Motomiya Daisuke and the Philosopher's Stone
by NeoX7
Summary: A month after the death of his parents, Daisuke receives a mysterious letter-one of invitation to a place he never dreamed of. There he finds magic, old and new friends, aerial sports, and a great destiny that awaits him...if Daisuke can survive.
1. The Boy Who Lived

Again, most insane person righting a story. Don't be surprised with the content of the story.

* * *

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

_And a beam of green light launched itself towards Daisuke._

* * *

Daisuke gasped loudly as he sat up from his most recent nightmare that replayed in his mind.

Yet another night with that same dream replaying in his mind. Daisuke tiredly got up, woke up V-mon and left his room, his Digimon quietly following him, as both were still half-asleep.

"Another nightmare?" Jun asked as she cooked breakfast. Her hair was now straight and long, falling down to her waist. She was wearing a half red half green shirt and brown pants, along with some white sneakers.

"Yeah." Daisuke replied in what had become his recently usual monotone voice. His hair was now spiky, the spikes pointing in all directions, his goggles still on his forehead, covering a recent scar he acquired that amusingly was in the shape of a lightning. He was wearing a royal blue shirt along with an open crimson dress shirt and gray pants, along with black sneakers. "Why can't I remember anything about that night?"

"Sometimes it's better not to remember Daisuke." Jun said as she placed breakfast on the table, followed by a quiet meal. "So, what are you going to do today?" Jun asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm gonna hang out with the others and stuff. You?"

"Same. Well, have fun." Jun said as she finished her breakfast and placed the dish in the sink and left.

Daisuke shortly thereafter finished his own breakfast and washed the dishes before heading out to meet the guys in the park. When he arrived, he saw that everybody was already there waiting for him and V-mon.

"Hey, took you long enough." Takeru said as he put an arm over Daisuke's shoulders. He was dressed a simple green T-shirt, a jeans and white shoes.

"Sorry for the wait." Daisuke replied.

"Well, come on, let's get going, the movie is about to start." Hikari said, wearing pink T-shirt with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath and a black skirt which reached her knees, along with brown boots.

The Erabareshi Kodomo walked into the theater, Daisuke looked at them to see how much they had changed over the past 7 months since BelialVamdemon's defeat. Ken was wearing a black T-shirt; Miyako a yellow shirt covered with a brown jacket and light blue jeans and black shoes; and Iori a green T-shirt and dark jeans, along with beige shoes. They were all acting a bit different from what they normally acted around him, they were a little kinder, and he obviously knew why. Because about a month ago, his parents died. He remembered it vividly.

* * *

(Flashback)

_He and V-mon were coming home from school, just like any other ordinary day, when, while approaching their house, they heard some voices, which sounded like a somebody he didn't know and his father shout something which he couldn't exactly understand, followed by a flash of green light coming through the window, then another flash of red light, and then the green light flashed again, making him and V-mon rush to the scene with his Digivice already in hand and V-mon already in fighting stance. But when they entered the house, they found his dad dead on the floor, holding a wooden stick, that seemed like a wand, in his hands. Daisuke slowly walked towards his father and then kneeled down beside him as he started to cry. _

_The flash of green light followed again, with another flash of red light and a noise that resembled falling down to the floor, and he and V-mon quickly lifted up and ran to site to find Jun laid down on the floor, also with a wand in her hand and a bleeding head._

"_Jun!" Daisuke said as he rushed to his sister's side._

"_Daisuke, V-mon…get out of here…" Jun said before she fell unconscious again._

_Daisuke saw some more flashes of green light and looked down the hall to see a figure in black robes with a hood covering his head, and swore that his stick was emitting the beams of green light. Whatever these things where, they weren't just any ordinary sticks. Daisuke then dragged Jun into a room grabbed Jun's wand and ran down the hall along with V-mon, only to see it empty._

"_Mom? Mom, are you there?" Daisuke asked as he looked around and then entered the room on his right, which belonged to Jun._

_Instead, he saw the mysterious figure, who pointed his wand at him and Daisuke immediately made a run down the hall for his parents bedroom as the green beam missed him and hit the wall._

_As Daisuke opened the door and immediately had the tip of a wand pressed against the side of his head. Whoever was holding the wand then lowered it and pulled Daisuke and V-mon inside and closed the door quickly._

"_Daisuke, V-mon, listen to me. You're going to wait on that side of the door and when I give the signal, you run for it, get Jun, and get out of here, okay?" Daisuke's mother told them, not wasting any time._

"_Mom, what's going on? What's happening?" Daisuke asked._

"_Daisuke, I don't have time to explain, just get sister and run!" Daisuke's mom insisted._

_The door then flew open and a the mysterious figure pointed his wand at Daisuke's mom, who did the same and a beam of green and red light came out of each one's respective wands, colliding in the air._

_Daisuke, looked at the wand in his hand and quickly pointed it too, hoping something would happen, and something did, some sparks flew out of it, but not much else. The rays that then were in mid-air disappeared and the mysterious figure then pointed his wand at Daisuke._

"_No!" Daisuke's mom exclaimed as she pushed Daisuke out of the way and the mysterious figure launched a another beam from his wand, and Daisuke's mother reacting quickly enough to deflect the beam somewhat with her own ray of light from her wand, causing it to be deflected from her body, but knocking her wand out of her hand._

_Before she could get her wand, the figure said something in a husky, snake like voice, and made the wand fly to his hand before he crushed it. He then ignored Daisuke's mother's presence and pointed his wand at him, only for her to step in the way._

"_Not Daisuke, please no, don't kill him, take me, kill me instead!" Daisuke's mother begged._

"_Mom, no!" Daisuke and V-mon replied._

"_This is my last warning…" The figure said as he pointed his wand._

"_Not Daisuke! Please, have mercy…Not Daisuke! Please! I'll do anything!" Daisuke's mother continued._

_The man then said what seemed like maked-up words, the same as he said before when Daisuke was arriving home, and a ray of green light struck his mother as she shouted her son's name._

"_Mom!" Daisuke and V-mon screamed as they catched her before she hit the floor and kneeled down, now crying even more as Daisuke and V-mon hugged her and sobbed on her chest._

_Daisuke then looked up as he heard the figure say something once more, this time getting what he was saying, for some reason, it feeling like a curse that would haunt him for a long time. "Avada Kedavra!" And when Daisuke looked up, he saw a green light head towards him, and then everything went black._

(End of flashback)

* * *

After that Daisuke woke up with Jun holding him in her arms, a sad smile on her face of great joy and sadness for him being alive and their parents dead. V-mon was also hugging him while crying, thinking he had lost him too. Jun then called their friends to inform what happened and then the "cops", if that's what they were, because Daisuke thought they were too weirdly dressed to be policemen. After that, Jun was given custody of Daisuke, despite her age. Daisuke asked Jun sometimes what were those wands and who was that figure, but she just kept avoiding the question and postponing the answer. Daisuke decided to give it a rest, since Jun now had to take care of him, she was working hard; the least he could do was force her to answer his questions. He would let some time pass first.

After the movie was over, Daisuke, as he had somewhat gotten since the death of his parents, was still pretty quiet while the others tried to cheer up.

"Come on Daisuke-kun! I'll give you a kiss if you do." Hikari said.

"No you wouldn't." Daisuke replied with a fake-judgmental look, now playing along, grateful for his friends doing their best to cheer him up.

"We'll, I'll see you guys later." Daisuke said as he and V-mon started walking away before the others quickly catched up to them.

"Hey, were do you think you're going?" Miyako asked. "We're walking you home."

"…Okay then." Daisuke said, finding it weird that they would want to walk him home.

As the group arrived closer at Daisuke's home, Iori made a call to somebody, although Daisuke didn't know who, but it was quite obvious who he had called as soon as Daisuke opened the door.

"Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Jun and the older Erabareshi Kodomo said as Daisuke entered the room and flicked the lights on.

"Heh, you guys." Daisuke said as he headed towards them and gave each of them a hug.

"My little successor is turning 12!" Taichi said as he rubbed Daisuke's head.

The party was a pretty normal and quiet one, just a few drinks, foods and some talks before they all had to go home.

"Thank you for the party Jun." Daisuke said as he helped Jun put some of the stuff.

"You're welcome. But I wonder where he is." Jun said as she looked at the clock.

"Where who is?" V-mon asked before there was a knocking on the door.

"That must be him." Jun said as she went to answer the door.

On the door step stood a tall man, about 8 and a half inches tall, with long black hair and a long beard, wearing a brown coat and a visible gray old shirt, holding a gray umbrella, stood on the door step, and was quickly hugged by Jun.

"Hengai-san!" Jun said as she hugged the man.

"It's good to see you too Jun. And I am assuming those over there are little Daisuke and V-mon. Daisuke, spitting image of his father in his days." The man said.

"Jun…who is he?" V-mon asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me present myself. I'm Hengai Rushima, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Butaibo and an old friend of your parents. You can just call me Hengai. And this here is for you." Hengai said as he gave Daisuke a letter.

"Ah thank God. Now I don't have to explain anything." Jun said as she laid down on the couch.

Daisuke slowly read the letter which had a "B" in the cover, surrounded by a lion, a snake, an eagle, and a badger and beside it written:

"To Motomiya D.-san

Odaiba

Japan"

Daisuke the opened the letter and took out a paper.

"**Butaibo School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"**

Headmaster: Damaro Abura

"Dear Motomiya-san,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Butaibo School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipments.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no latter than August 1.

Yours sincerely,

Nakamura Miu,

Deputy Headmistress."

"…What does this mean?" Daisuke asked after he was finished staring at the letter for a few seconds.

"Daisuke…yer a wizard." Hengai said.

"…Is this some kind of joke?" Daisuke asked.

"Nope, it's true. How do you think we were able to do those things with the wand?" Jun told her brother with her face in the pillow.

"You knew?" V-mon asked.

"Yup. Known about it for almost three years." Jun said.

"Why didn't you or Mom or Dad ever tell us?" Daisuke asked.

"I'll explain it to you at the train when we head to Butaibo." Jun said.

"Wait, that's the school you transferred to?" Daisuke asked to which Jun nodded.

"What does that mean-they await my owl?" Daisuke asked.

"You have to buy an owl and send a letter carrying your reply with it." Jun said. "Tomorrow, we're leaving to by your material."

"Well, I better get going. Can't wait to see how the famous Motomiya Daisuke will do at Butaibo." Hengai said.

"Famous? !" Daisuke and V-mon said at the same time.

"You don't know. You're famous all around the wizarding world." Hengai said.

"But…why?" V-mon asked.

"Well…it all began with a person called…"

"Called…" Daisuke and V-mon repeated.

"Well…we try to avoid his name in our world. He was an evil wizard, a dark wizard, the greatest of them all. We refer to him as You-Know-Who, but his name was…was Zoltel. This wizard, about 12 years ago started looking for followers. Got'em too, since some feared him, and others wanted his power, which was growing increasingly inside him. Those were dark days Daisuke, V-mon. Didn't know who to trust, especially strangers. Couldn't walk in the streets without always being alert, fearing for your life and of those you loved. Terrible things happened. Some stood up to him of course, and he killed them. One of the only safe places was Butaibo thanks to Damaro, the greatest wizard of all times. Only person You-Know-Who was afraid of. Now your parents were one of the best wizards in their days. Head Boy and Girl back at Butaibo. They were one of the few that stood up to him. Now about a month ago, he turned up at your home and killed them…" Hengai said before pulling out a handkerchief to blow his nose. "Sorry, it's that I was really close to your parents. So he came to your home and killed your parents. Nobody knows why he came here. Maybe it was to turn your parents to the Dark Side. Or maybe he saw them as too great of a threat."

"So that's who he was: Zolte-I mean You-Know-Who who killed my parents." Daisuke said.

"Yep. You-Know-Who killed them. Now the thing is, for some reason, he failed to kill you." Hengai said. "You see, when You-Know-Who decided to kill somebody, they were virtually dead; and he killed some of the best wizards and witches of our time. But not you. That scar on your head. It isn't just any scar. That's what you get when a powerful, evil curse touches you. That's why you're famous Daisuke. You're the Boy Who Lived." Hengai said as the image of the green beam launching itself towards Daisuke replayed in his mind.

"What happened to You-Know-Who?" Daisuke asked.

"Some say he died. Baloney if you ask me. I think he's still out there…somewhere, waiting for the right time, gathering his power. But I have to go now. I'll see you later tomorrow and at Shibuya Station on September 1st." Hengai said as he left.

Daisuke and V-mon then turned to see Jun head back to her room, before they themselves headed towards their own bedroom.

"_The Boy Who Lived…_" Daisuke thought as he placed his right hand over his scar.

* * *

Well, hope you liked the first chapter. Also, don't expect this to be as long or good as the original book, but nevertheless, I hope you have fun. Reveiw please.


	2. Cornerside Street

I do not own anything

* * *

Daisuke yawned as he woke up and scratched his eyes sleepily. He then thought about the events of last night, wondering if it was all a dream, before he himself looked at the nightstand beside him and saw the letter laying there.

"So it was all true. I'm…I'm a wizard." Daisuke said as he looked at his hand.

"Daisuke, V-mon, wake up. We're going to be late. Breakfast's on the table." Jun said as she knocked on the door.

Daisuke and V-mon got up and Daisuke took a shower before getting dressed and heading to the table.

"So, where are we going to?" V-mon asked.

"Tokyo." Jun replied.

"Tokyo, what are we going to do there?" Daisuke asked this time.

"Get your material. The letter clearly states on the back that you need three sets of black plain robes, one winter cloak, one black plain pointed hat, one pair of protective gloves, the Book of Standard Spells level.1, A History of Magic, etc, one cauldron, one telescope, one crystal phials, one brass scale, and of course, your very own wand." Jun said.

"We can buy all that in Tokyo?" Daisuke asked.

"If you know where to go." Jun said.

After they were all finished eating, they headed to Tokyo. Daisuke just looked around all over the place as they headed somewhere which they had no idea where; they were just following Jun.

"So where exactly are we going?" Daisuke asked.

"Boiling Cauldron, it's a pretty famous place." Jun said.

"And how much further away are we from there?" V-mon asked.

"We're here." Jun said as she entered a bar.

"A bar? We're going to find all we need in a bar?" Daisuke said as he followed his sister inside the place.

It was a dark and shabby place, filled with people in robes; some people actually appeared to be familiar with Jun.

"Hey Jun, coming here to get your new material for your 3rd year?" The bartender asked.

"Well, mine and my little brother's." Jun said.

"Dear Lord, it's…it's Motomiya Daisuke."

The whole place stopped at once at the mention of Daisuke's name, and the next second, Daisuke found himself surrounded by people wanting to shake his hand and touch him.

"Welcome back, Motomiya-san, welcome back." The bartender said as he shook Daisuke's hand vigorously.

"I can't believe I'm finally meeting you." A woman said as she took Daisuke's hand.

"It's an honor to be in your presence." A man said as he bowed before Daisuke.

To tell the truth, Daisuke was actually getting kind of scared.

"All right, all right, enough, we've gotta get a move on." Jun said as she grabbed her brother and his partner and pushed them away from the crowd.

"Jun, so good to see you again." A man with a turban around his head, pale, and very nervous looking said.

"Aah, Kurata-sensei, nice to see you again." Jun replied. "Daisuke, this is Kurata-sensei. He is going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and that's his partner Gottsumon."

"Nice to meet you Motomiya, V-mon." Both of them said.

"Equally." The boys replied.

"Well, if you will excuse sensei, we have to get our material." Jun said as she left and Daisuke and V-mon quickly followed before they stopped in front of a wall.

"So what next?" V-mon asked.

Jun tapped on two bricks that stuck out slightly to being redder than the others, one three times, and the other twice, and suddenly the bricks started moving opening a path, clearly allowing Daisuke and V-mon to see that what lay on the other side of the wall was a new street.

"Daisuke, V-mon, welcome to Cornerside Street." Jun said as she walked into the street, followed by the boys.

Daisuke and V-mon looked everywhere, it was full of stuff that not only had they never heard about, but was also pretty cool.

"Look!" A kid said to his little brother as they looked at a broomstick through the window of a shop. "The new Nimbus 2000, the fastest broom ever!"

"Here we are." Jun said as she stopped in front of a massive building, in white, which seemed to be pretty important. "Mahginko, the magical bank. You're crazy if you think you can rob it."

The trio walked inside to be greeted by…goblins.

"Jun, Daisuke, V-mon!" Hengai said as he approached them.

"Hey Hengai-san. Also here to get some money?" Jun asked.

"Something else actually, Butaibo orders." Hengai replied as they walked to the counter.

"Morning, we've come to take some money out of Motomiya Daisuke's and Motomiya Jun's safe." Jun told the free goblin.

"You have the keys, madam?" The goblin asked.

"Here they are." Jun said as she handed the two keys to the goblin.

"And I've got a letter from Damaro-sensei. It's about You-Know-What in vault 713." Hengai said as he took out a letter and gave it to the goblin. The goblin opened the letter and carefully read it, his fingers following the line before he folded it and put it inside his breast pocket.

"Very well, I will have someone accompany you down to the vaults. Groovester." The goblin said.

Another goblin appeared and motioned the group to follow him.

"What's in vault 713?" V-mon asked.

"Can't tell you. Butaibo business. Damaro trusted me." Hengai answered.

The group passed through a door a saw a narrow railway with a cart. As soon as all of them were on it, they were of to the vaults. They cart, after some travelling, and then stopped where there were some small doors on the walls. Groovester then got out and opened two doors with the keys. Inside the two rooms was a ton of coins of gold, silver, and bronze.

"The gold ones are Galleons, the silver Sickles, and the bronze Knuts. Seventeen Sickles is equal to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle." Hengai explained to Daisuke and V-mon.

Jun then went and took some coins of both vaults and gave one to Daisuke.

They hopped back in the cart and headed to vault 713, where there was a huge door on the wall, and when the goblin opened it, there was a small, tied bag laying on the floor, which grabbed and put inside his jacket.

"Well, I guess our business here is finished." Hengai said as he hopped onto the cart and it sped away back to the surface of Mahginko.

"Well, I have to head back to Butaibo. Hope you have fun, Daisuke, V-mon, Jun." Hengai said as he headed back to the Boiling Cauldron.

"Daisuke, V-mon, I have to go somewhere. You guys head down this street into a place called Madam Mujin's Shop." Jun said and the boys did as she asked.

"Butaibo, dear?" An old lady asked as Daisuke and V-mon entered the building. "Got a lot here. In fact a young man is being fitted up right now in fact." The woman said as Daisuke looked at a pale skinned boy with blond hair combed bacl and a Dracomon sleeping in the corner, which he assumed was his.

"Hello. Butaibo too?" The boy asked.

"Yes." Daisuke responded.

"My father's next door buying my books and my mother's looking at wands. I don't see why first years can't have their own broomsticks. I think I'll make father buy me one and sneak it in somehow. Have you got your own broom?"

"No."

"Play Quidditch?" The boy asked.

"No." Daisuke said, wondering what "Quidditch" was.

"I do. Father says it's a crime if I don 't play for my house, which is true. Know which house you're gonna be in?" The boy asked.

"No." Daisuke said, know wondering what he meant by "houses".

"Nobody really knows until they get there. But I know I'm gonna be in Suruberu. Imagine being in Chuhoru. I would most certainly leave. Wouldn't you?"

"…"

"So, where are your parents?" The boy asked.

"They're dead." Daisuke replied.

"Oh, sorry." The boy said in a careless tone of voice. "But they were our kind, right?"

"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.

"Pure-blooded witches and wizards, from the old traditional families." The boys explained. "What's your last name by the way?"

"You're finished my dear." Madam Mujin said before Daisuke could answer the question. Not that he was complaining, he was actually quite relieved; he didn't really like this boy.

Daisuke then stepped down from the footstool and paid the woman.

"I suppose I'll see you at Butaibo." The boy said as Daisuke and V-mon left.

As the two got outside, they found Jun with three ice cream cones in her hand, and gave them to Daisuke and V-mon, the latter easily devouring it in one bite.

"Jun, what's Quidditch? What is Suruberu and Chuhoru?" Daisuke asked.

"Oh right, you're new at this. Quidditich is a wizard sport, sort of like soccer, only that you fly on broomsticks and you have four balls and four goals. Chohoru and Suruberu are two of the four houses of Butaibo. Chuhoru normally has old dags in it." Jun said.

"Do you think we are going to be in Chuhoru?" V-mon asked.

"Nah. Besides, being in Chuhoru is way better than being in Suruberu. Not a single wizard or witch who has gone bad wasn't from Suruberu." Jun said. "Now come on. There is something I want to show you."

The trio headed to buy some more material before they stopped before a shop called Oowlops Owl Emporium. They followed her inside the shop and saw a certain cage on the counter.

"Daisuke, this is going to your pet at Butaibo." Jun said as she gave him the cage with a snow owl inside. "So, what are you going to call her?"

"…Yushiba." Daisuke said as he looked at the cage.

"Alright, that was the second-to-last material for class next is going to be your wand."

Daisuke and V-mon couldn't help but grin. This was what they had been waiting for, the best part: Daisuke's very own magic wand.

Daisuke, V-mon, and Jun stopped in front of a shop titled "Ando Wand Shop-Fine Makers of Wands since 382 B.C". The three of them entered the group and Daisuke and V-mon looked around at the several narrow boxes piled up together up to the ceiling behind the counter. And from the back of the shop appeared a man with gray ruffled hair, the type which you would normally see in those mad scientists type, who rushed to the counter.

"Aah, Motomiya Daisuke-san, I've been expecting you." The man said while looking intensely at Daisuke with his silver eyes, which was scaring him. "Seems like only yesterday when your mother was in here herself buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inch long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charms. Your father on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. It favored your father actually. It's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course. And as for Jun-san, seemed like it was this morning. Ten and three quarters inches long, cherry, dragon heartstrings; also excellent for charms. Would you take out your wand arm?"

Daisuke stretched out his right arm and Ando took out a measurer which started measuring every single centimeter of Daisuke's body. After it was done, it flew back to Ando's hand, who put it back in his pocket, followed by looking through the boxes before choosing one.

"Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it wave." Ando said as he opened the box before Daisuke for him to grab the wand.

When Daisuke grabbed the wand, for some reason it didn't feel right in his hands, it brought a sense of discomfort. Daisuke tried giving it a wave, but nothing happened; and had it snatched out of his hand.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try."

Daisuke took the next wand and gave it a wave and had some boxes in the direction of the wand were pushed out of the shelves.

"No, no. Here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, try it out."

Daisuke also tried this wand, and the one after that, and then the next one, and the one following; but none of them worked. Although it seemed that this just made Ando happier.

"Tricky costumer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere." Ando said as he shuffled through the boxes, before stopping on a particular one, staring at it for quite some time before taking it out slowly. "…I wonder now…yes, why not. Unusual combination, holly and dragon scale, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Daisuke took the wand in his hand and wave of warmth and comfort passed through his fingers, before a wind surrounded him and the tip of the wand began to shine. Daisuke then raised the wand into the air and brought it down, red and gold sparks coming out of the tip as if they were fireworks, which quickly earned him applauses from Jun and Ando.

"Bravo, oh yes, bravo indeed. Very good Daisuke-san." Ando said as he took the wand, placed it back in the box and wrapped it. "Curious…how very curious…"

"Sorry sir, but…what's curious?" Daisuke asked.

"…I remember every single wand I ever sold Daisuke-san. Every single wand. It so happens that the dragon whose scale is in your wand gave another scale, just one other. It is very curious that you should be destinied for this wand when its brother…gave you that scar." Ando said pointing at the right side of Daisuke's forehead, where his scar laid. "Thirteen and a half inches long. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard Daisuke-san, remember…After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things; terrible, but great."

Okay, now it was official: Ando creeped out Daisuke. He decided to just pay the seven gold Galleons and leave with Jun and V-mon.

"Thank you very much Ando." Jun said as she bowed respectfully before the other man, who did the same, before the former left.

(A later that night)

"So Daisuke, V-mon, did you like Cornerside Street?" Jun asked her little brother as they sat on table for dinner.

"Everyone thinks I'm special. Kurata-sensei, Ando-san. But I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I don't even know what I'm famous for. The night Mom and Dad died, all I remember are their deaths and You-Know-Who launching that green beam at me…then, nothing. I don't even know what happened to him." Daisuke replied before he took another bite of his hamburger.

"Don't you worry Daisuke. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Butaibo, you and V-mon'll do just fine. You've been singled out and that's always hard. But you two'll have a great time at Butaibo. I did; still do as a matter of fact." Jun said with a kind smile before pulling out three tickets. "These are our tickets to the express to Butaibo. Guard them." She said as she gave two to Daisuke and V-mon.

After dinner finished, Daisuke and V-mon put their tickets in the drawer in their nightstand, anxiously waiting for the remaining one month to pass.

* * *

Well, hope you guys liked it. Reveiw please.


	3. Butaibo

I do not own anything.

* * *

The month passed really quickly and, before they knew it, it was September 1st. Daisuke and V-mon just followed Jun as they headed towards Shibuya Station. Their destination was apparently…Platform 9 ¾.

"Jun, are you sure this place exists?" V-mon asked Jun, since he doubted such a place, despite it seeming that Jun knew where she was going.

"Yeah. Just follow me and shut up." Jun said as she was asked about this for the tenth million time.

They then entered an empty elevator and Jun pressed the buttons 9, 3, and 4. The elevator suddenly descended at a speed that made both Daisuke and V-mon sick, although Jun seemed to be used, until it stopped abruptly. The elevator door then opened to reveal they were in a platform with a red train in front of them, written "Butaibo Express", and a board stuck to the wall written "Platform 9 ¾".

"Amazing." Daisuke and V-mon said as they looked at the place.

"…Daisuke-kun?"

Daisuke and V-mon turned around and were shocked to find all of the Erabareshi Kodomo and their families there.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" V-mon asked.

"We were about to ask you all the same thing." Patamon said.

"So all of us received a letter." Ken said.

"But what about Taichi and the others?" Daisuke asked, knowing that if they were also attending, that had to be on the same grade as Jun, which means that they had to be attending Butaibo for 3 years.

"We knew about this." Taichi responded.

"Wait, you guys also knew about this? But why didn't you tell us? ! And how come we saw you from time to time? !" Takeru asked.

"We only came by to visit on special occasions with permission from Damaro-sensei. As to why we never told you, Mom's going to explain that." Taichi said, allowing his mother to explain.

"Daisuke, Hikari, everyone. We never told you because…about 12 years ago, when You-Know-Who came to rise, some of your parents and us defied him. But we knew he was too powerful, se we decided to hide ourselves in the Muggle world."

"Muggle?" Daisuke asked.

"It means non-magical people. We never told you because it would make the disguise better." Hikari's and Taichi's mother said. "I'm sorry we never told you."

"But then how did he figure out about Daisuke's and Jun's parents?" Miyako asked.

"That we don't know. The Motomiya's location was supposed to be absolutely secret." Takeru's and Yamato's father said.

"Well, at least with you guys there, I won't have to bother trying to make new friends or be alone, what a relief." Daisuke said.

*HONK*

"You guys better get a move on, if you don't, you'll miss the train." Iori's mother told them all, except for Iori, who still had to wait 3 years before he could go.

"Bye!" The Erabareshi Kodomo said as they waved to their parents, who waved back.

Daisuke and V-mon took a seat and Takeru and Patamon took a seat opposite to theirs while Hikari and Tailmon sat beside the formers, wanting to keep them company. Ken, Miyako, Wormmon, and Hawkmon on the other hand, sat on a seat parallel to theirs, but they were all a talking distance from each other.

"Guys, we'll be in the middle of the train. If you need anything, call us." Yamato said.

"Jun, just one question, where is Butaibo at?" Daisuke asked.

"It's on an off the map island east to Japan." Jun replied as she, the Erabareshi Kodomo, and Miyako's brothers headed down the train.

"Who would've thought that our big brothers had a secret like that from us." Daisuke said.

"But they had a good reason. Daisuke-kun, is that owl yours?" Hikari asked as she looked at the beautiful snow owl.

"Yeah, her name is Yushiba. You can put your finger in the cage if you want." Daisuke said.

Once Hikari put her finger in the cage, Yushiba came closer and cuddled her.

"Aww…" Hikari and Miyako said, finding it cute.

"Lucky you. I got a rat." Takeru said as he pulled out his rat. "His name is Tsurachi."

"…Why do you carry a rat with you?" Daisuke asked, knowing Takeru could've bought something so much better.

"Well, it just keeps following me every where and so I decided to keep him rather than buy a pet." Takeru said.

"My toad disappeared. But I'm sure he'll turn up eventually." Ken said.

"What's his name?" Hikari asked.

"Mikio." Ken replied.

The group all continued talking about when and how they found out about being wizards and witches, as well as their own reactions. About half and hour later, a woman driving a cart full of candies passed by.

"Anything off the cart, dears?" The woman asked.

"I'll take it all." Daisuke said as he pulled out some Sickles and Knuts, and paid the cart women, who gave him all the candies.

"Hungry, are you?" Ken asked.

"Starving." Daisuke replied.

"As usual." Miyako said.

Daisuke decided to share some of the sweets with the others, as he knew they had to be a bit hungry to, even if only a bit.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Ken asked as he looked at the box containing colored beans inside.

"Tell me if they're good." Daisuke said.

Ken took out a brown bean and gave it a try, and the next second was with his head out the window, puking his stomach out.

"Guys…" Ken said when he finished puking. "I think that they really mean every flavor. The one I just ate tasted like liver."

"…I lost my appetite." Miyako said as she put back the bean she took out of the box.

"Pass it here; let me give it a try." Daisuke said.

"Sure, if you want to risk something worse." Ken said as he threw Daisuke the box from the other side.

Daisuke caught it and took out a light brown bean, a red bean, and a dark brown bean.

"Curry…Strawberry…and coffee." Daisuke said as he tasted each of the three beans before taking another box. "Chocolate Frogs? Are they real frogs?"

"Only one way to find out." V-mon said as Daisuke opened the box and in the next second, a chocolate frog jumped out onto the window, before jumping out of the window itself.

"Okay, after this, nothing else will surprise me." Hikari said.

"There's a card inside." Tailmon said.

Daisuke returned his attention to the box and saw that there really was a card inside, a photograph of an old man with glasses and long white beard, wearing a pointed hat on it. He then flipped it over and saw something written there.

"_**Damaro Abura**_"

"Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Damaro is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Graida in 1956, the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work in alchemy with his partner, Fuhii Naca. Damaro-sensei enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling."

"So that's Damaro-sensei!" Hikari said, delighted to know such an incredible man would be their headmaster.

Daisuke flipped over the card once more and they saw that the picture was gone.

"What? ! Where did he go?" Patamon asked.

"I assume pictures move in the Wizard world." Wormmon said.

"That's a possibility." Miyako said. "Oh yeah. Did you guys see the Daily Prophet today? It seems someone broke into Mahginko."

"You're kidding." Takeru said. "What happened to them?"

"They haven't been caught yet. It was certainly a powerful Dark wizard. Everyone thinks You-Know-Who is behind it. Strange thing is nothing was taken."

They continued eating all the sweets, except for the beans, with an exception of Daisuke and V-mon, who finished it all. Just then, three boys appeared, and Daisuke and V-mon recognized the middle one to be the one from Madam Mujin's Shop. He also saw that his Dracomon was now awake. He was also looking at Daisuke with a lot more interest now that he was at Cornerside Street.

"Is it true?" The boy asked. "They're saying all down the train that Motomiya Daisuke's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes." Daisuke replied as he looked at the other two boys. One was taller than the kid from Cornerside, had a Kunemon with his a short, curly brown hair, and the other shorter and short light brown hair, and had a Candmon.

"These here are Nisaka, Candmon, Goiru, Kunemon, and Dracomon. And my name's Koaku. Koaku Ryu." The boy said.

Takeru pressed his mouth shut as tight as he could, but it didn't work as everyone heard a snicker come out of his mouth.

"Think my name's funny, do you? Not even gonna bother asking who you are. Must be just another pathetic low-life nobody in Wizarding world who knows nothing about magic." Ryu said as he glared at the blond. "You'll soon learn that some wizarding families are much better than others Motomiya. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Ryu said as he held out his hands.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort myself, thanks." Daisuke replied, making Ryu's face turn red out of embarrassment and rage.

"I'd be careful if I were you Motomiya." He said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like these and it'll rub off on you."

At that moment, both Daisuke and Takeru stood facing against Ryu, Nisaka and Goiru, while Ken stood up behind them. As for V-mon, Patamon, Hawkmon, and Wormmon, they glared at Dracomon, Candmon, and Kunemon. Hikari, Tailmon, and Miyako got up to try and calm down the boys, but to no use.

"Say that again." Takeru dared, ready to give these guys the beating of their life.

"Oh, you're going to fight us?" Koaku sneered, amused.

"Unless you get out now." Daisuke said, pissed that this guy spoke so lowly of his parents.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." Koaku said with a smirk on his face.

Goiru moved forward to get a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, resulting in a blow from Takeru in the face, making him stumble back and fall while clutching a slightly bleeding nose. Koaku was severely surprised by this, as Goiru was taller and appeared way stronger than Takeru, so to make the former fall back wasn't an easy task.

"I'm going to give you just one more chance. Get out now or I will beat the crap out of you." Takeru said.

Goiru then stood up and was about to charged at Takeru when Tsurachi jumped onto Goiru's face, scratching and biting it, leaving a lot of marks, making the boys scream in horror. Tsurachi then jumped onto Koaku's hand, making Koaku grab him quickly before he could find him and threw the rat against the window, and the three boys and their Digimon ran away.

Takeru grabbed Tsurachi, who was now fast asleep and put him in his pocket.

"We will be reaching Butaibo in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train. They will be taken to the school separately."

"Umm…do you mind?" Ken told the girls, waiting for them to leave so they could change.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Miyako said as she, Hikari, and Tailmon left.

Daisuke, Takeru, and Ken then took of their clothes and put on their put on the gray pants, gray socks, black shoes, white dress shirt, a black house tie (which, in Daisuke's opinion, was a bit to formal), a long-sleeved black sweater with a "B" over their hearts, and black robes.

"Girls, if you're done, you can come back in now." Takeru said.

"Yeah, we're done." Hikari said in her new clothes. She and Miyako were wearing the same thing as the boys, only that they had a gray skirt and long gray socks which reached their knees.

The express slowed down more and more and the next thing the Erabareshi Kodomo knew, it had completely stopped. What followed next was a crowd pushing and shoving to get outside first. Once the group got outside, they saw it was already dark.

"First years! First years over here!" A familiar voice to Daisuke and V-mon said.

They turned to see Hengai towering over all the rest of the students there.

"Hengai-san!" The two boys said.

"Hey Daisuke-san, V-mon, great to see you. Daisuke-san, V-mon, this is my Digimon partner Muchomon." Hengai said as he presented the small red bird Digimon.

"Hey, pleasure." Muchomon said.

"Pleasure." V-mon and Daisuke said.

"Anymore first years? ! All right then, follow me! Mind your step now!" Hengai said.

The first years walked through a narrow path in a forest, following Hengai who hat a lantern. It was so dark you couldn't even see the trees.

"You'll get your first sight of Butaibo in a second." Hengai said.

Soon, they all stopped in front of a black lake and all the students let out an "oooh/awww" once they saw Butaibo on the other side of the lake. It was an enormous and ancient yet in excellent condition castle with many turrets and towers lying on top of a high mountain, its light sparkling in the night sky.

"No more than four to a boat without counting the Digimon!" Hengai called, pointing to the small fleet of boats on the edge of the lake.

Daisuke and V-mon got in with Takeru, Patamon, Ken, Wormmon and another guys while Hikari, Tailmon, Miyako, and Hawkmon got onto another with two other girls.

"FORWARD!" Hengai said, and instantly the boats leaned off the shore and into the lake, moving across the lake, which felt like clear glass.

The boats then entered a small cave and stopped in what seemed to be an underground harbor. They all got out and followed Hengai across the dark tunnel and out of it, followed by climbing up some stairs.

"Mikio!" Ken said as he saw his brown toad atop the handle of the stairs and took it back into his hand, allowing it to hop onto his shoulder, before continuing on with the crowd until they came to a halt in front of two massive doors.

"Everyone here?" Hengai asked. With several nods from the students, Hengai turned and knocked three times on them.

The door opened to show a woman who appeared to be in her mid-sixties with grayish brown hair, wearing glasses and emerald green robes standing beyond the door. She had a very stern and disciplined face, resembling that of the cliché stoic British teacher. She also had a BlackPawnChessmon and a WhitePawnChessmon by her side.

"The first years Nakamura-sensei." Hengai said.

"Thank you Hengai. I will take it from here." Nakamura said.

She started walking down the hall and the students followed her. The halls were lit by flaming torches that were on the sides, and the ceiling was really high up, about 20 meters high. Nakamura and BlackPawnChessmon and WhitePawnChessmon then stopped in front of another large door.

"Welcome to Butaibo." Said Nakamura. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats into the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important part of the ceremony because while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Butaibo. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

The four houses are called Goono, Hikomeina, Chuhoru, and Suruberu. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Butaibo, your triumphs will earn your House Points, while any rule-breaking will lose House Points. At the end of the year, the house with most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting." Nakamura said as she opened the door and entered the room along with her partners, before closing it, so that the students didn't see the Great Hall yet.

As they were waiting, Daisuke turned around when he heard screams and was surprised and scared to see several ghosts had appeared in the room.

"Greetings!" A ghost that resembled a fat Monk said. "New students! About to be Sorted, I presume."

The students just quietly nodded, not being able to find words with in them.

"Hope to see you in Chuhoru. My old house you know. Now if you'll excuse me." The ghost of the Fat Monk said as he disappeared through the walls, along with the other ghosts.

"Now, form a line and follow me." Nakamura told the first years as she returned. They all gathered in two lines and Nakamura opened the big doors and was followed by the students into the Great Hall.

They were all amazed at how beautiful it looked, especially Daisuke and V-mon. It was a long and wide hall, with a very high ceiling, about 30 meters, although you couldn't tell because it was bewitched to look like the night sky outside, filled with stars. It seemed so real it was hard it was hard to believe that there was a ceiling, and that the Great Hall simply just didn't have one. It had several candles floating midair, and four long tables, about the same size as the hall, in which the students were sitting, decorated with goblets and empty plates. At the end of the hall was another long table that was horizontal, rather then the vertical position in which the four tables that were occupied by students were.

The students looked on as Nakamura went and placed a four-legged stool at the end of the hall, before the teachers table, and then placed a black pointed hat on it.

"What are we gonna do; take a rabbit out of it?" Daisuke whispered to Ken.

Imagine his, as well as everybody else's surprise when they noticed a small fold appear in the hat, similar to a mouth, followed by it singing.

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep you bowler black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall_

_For I'm the Butaibo Sorting Hat,_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Goono,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Goonos apart;_

_You might belong in Chuhoru,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Chuhorus are true_

_And unafraid to toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Hikomeina,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Suruberu_

_You'll make real friends,_

_Those cunning folks use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm the Thinking Cap!_"

Once the hat finished singing, the whole hall burst into applauses.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." Nakamura said. "Abai Hena!"

A blond girl with short hair, tied in pigtails approached the stool, sat down, and the cap was put right over her head, covering her eyes.

"…CHUHORU!" The Sorting Cap said after a moment of pause.

The hat was then taken off and suddenly, the brim of the collar, sleeves, and end of Hena's sweater turned yellow, her tie turned with stripes of yellow and black, and the Butaibo emblem over her heart turned into the emblem of Chuhoru: a badger in a yellow background with the name "Chuhoru" written underneath.

The Chuhoru table, on the second right, which consisted of Mimi, Palmon, and one of Miyako's brothers, Inoue Momoe, started clapping as they received their newest member.

"Baiwu Tamiko!"

"CHUHORU!" The Sorting Hat shouted again, and Tamiko went to sit next to Hena as he outfit also changed.

"Betsura Hajime!"

"HIKOMEINA!"

Hajime's sweater turned blue on the brim at the collar, sleeves, and end; his tie gaining stripes of blue and gold, and his Butaibo emblem turning to the shield of an eagle in a blue background with the name "Hikomeina" written under. The table on the second left started clapping this time. Some notable students were Koushiro, Tentomon, Jyou, Gomamon, and Miyako's other two brothers: Inoue Chizuru and Inoue Mantarou.

"Ichijouji Ken!"

"GOONO!"

Ken's sweater turned red on the brim of its collar, sleeve, and end, and his tie had red and gold stripes; while the Butaibo emblem changed to that of a shield with a lion in a red background with the name "Goono" under the shield. The table on the far left was the one cheering this time. It had the majority of the Erabareshi Kodomo: Taichi, Agumon, Yamato, Gabumon, Sora, Piyomon, and Jun.

"Inoue Miyako!"

"HIKOMEINA!"

"Koaku Ryu!"

"SURUBERU!" The hat announced before it even so much as touched Koaku's head, and the table on the far left cheered.

Koaku's sweater turned green on the brim of the collar, sleeves, and end. Its shield was that of a snake in a green background with the words "Suruberu" under. Maybe it was Daisuke's imagination, but the people from Suruberu sure did match their houses reputation in appearance; they looked really mean.

"Matsuo Rei!"

"GOONO!"

And finally…

"Motomiya Daisuke!"

Daisuke felt his heart skip a beat and he accidentally froze for a second before he walked towards the stool as people started hissing whispers to each other.

"**Motomiya**, did she say?"

"**The** Motomiya Daisuke?"

As Daisuke sat on the stool, he saw several people trying to get a good look at him, before Nakamura placed on the hat.

"Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes, and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting…So where shall I put you?"

"_Not Suruberu, not Suruberu._" Daisuke thought as he gripped the edge of the stool hard.

"Not Suruberu, eh?" Said the voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Suruberu will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that; no? Well if you're sure, better be GOONO!"

Daisuke felt a wave of relief pass through his body when the hat shouted the last part to the whole hall, so much that he didn't even notice how loudly the Goono table was cheering for him. He quickly got V-mon and they walked towards the table on the far right. Only as he sat down did Daisuke notice that his sweater was red on the brim of the collar, sleeves, and end, his tie was red and with golden stripes, and his Butaibo emblem consisting of the Goono shield: the lion in the red background with the name "Goono" underneath.

There Sorting Ceremony continued until there were only some students left now.

"Nisaka Ugu!"

"SURUBERU!"

"Takaishi Takeru!"

"GOONO!"

"Sasaki Ho!"

"CHOHURO!"

"Unuzo Aki!"

"SURUBERU!"

"Wakabayashi Yutaka!"

"HIKOMEINA!"

"Yaarura Roshi!"

"CHUHORU!"

"Yagami Hikari!"

"GOONO!"

"Zanju Bara!"

"SURUBERU!"

Once the list finished, Nakamura rolled up the scroll and took the Sorting Hat. Daisuke then looked at his plate and realized how hungry he was, despite the fact that he had eaten candies just about half-hour ago and that he still had left-over in his pocket.

Damaro Abura had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms wide open, as if nothing could make him happier than seeing them all there.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Butaibo. Before we start out banquet, I'd like to say a few words. Here they are: Nitwik! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" Damaro said, and everyone applauded, with an exception of the first years, who were wondering if he was insane.

"Is he crazy?" Daisuke asked Taichi.

"Crazy? He's a genius. Best wizard in the world. But he is a bit crazy, yes. Roast beef, Daisuke, V-mon?"

Daisuke and V-mon turned and their mouths fell open when they saw the plate filled with delicious food. There were so many tasty thing: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, peas, ketchup, lamp chop, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, gravy, and quite interestingly and strangely, peppermint humbugs.

Even Takeru and Patamon were eating like pigs, though Patamon was half pig.

Daisuke piled a bit of everything, along with V-mon, and the devouring mayhem session started.

"That does look good." A ghost in a ruff and tights said in a sad voice.

"Can't you…" Daisuke as while biting his uncut steak.

"I'm a ghost, I don't need to eat. But one sure does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself. Rinshan Ogai-dono." The ghost said.

"I know who you are!" Hikari said. "My brother told me about you. You're Nearly Headless Ogai!"

"I would prefer Ogai-dono!" The ghost said, not liking his nicknames.

"_Nearly_ Headless? How can you be _nearly_ headless?" Kitsu Samuso, a first year who was also in Goono, asked.

"Like this." Ogai-dono answered irritably as he grabbed his right ear and pulled it, making his whole head swing of the neck, almost touching his shoulder, if not the small connection between head and neck still left. Someone had obviously tried to decapitate him, but didn't finish the work. Pleased with the stunned and scared looks on their faces, Ogai flipped his head back. "So new Goono's, I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year. Goono has never gone so long without winning. Suruberu has got the cup six years in a row. The Bloody Duke is starting to become unbearable. He's Suruberu's house ghost."

Daisuke looked at the Suruberu table and saw a ghost with killer eyes and, a mustache, and bloody robes sitting next to Koaku.

When everyone was finished eating, the remainders of the foods disappeared and were replaced by dessert. Jell-O, apple pie, ice cream, strawberries, tarts, jam doughnuts, rice pudding, chocolate.

As Daisuke got a bit of all the sweets, whereas V-mon took as much as he could, while the group started talking about their families.

"I'm half-and-half. My father's a Muggle and my mother's a witch. Sure was a shock for him when he found out." Samuso said.

"What about you Ken-san?" Takeru asked.

"Both my parents are wizards." Ken said.

Daisue then looked at Hikari, who was talking to Jun about all the kinds possible classes there were in Butaibo. He then looked at the Hikomeina table and saw Miyako talking with Koushiro about the same topic.

"I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn. I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning an object into something else." Miyako said.

"You'll be starting small, like turning matches into needles." Koushiro replied.

"Hey, Daisuke, check out that guy. He's staring at you." V-mon said.

Daisuke turned to the teachers table to see a man with black hair falling to his sides, in dark robes and a hooked nose, sitting beside Kurata, staring at him. He also had an Impmon sitting by his side.

"Ow!" Daisuke said silently as he covered his suddenly aching scar.

"What's wrong Daisuke-san?" Sora asked.

"Nothing. Say, who is that man sitting next to Kurata-sensei?"

"Oh, you already know Kurata-sensei. That man beside him is Sato-sensei. He's the Potion teacher, be he's really after Kurata-sensei's job. Knows a lot about the Dark Arts."

Daisuke and Sato continued staring at each other for a few more seconds before both of them deviated their looks.

Soon, dessert was also over. Damaro-sensei stood up one more time to make another announcement.

"Ahem! Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices for you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And that goes to our older students as well. I have also been asked by Mr. Fuki, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic is allowed between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Inryo. And finally, I must tell you this year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side of the bounds to everyone who does not wish die a very painful death." Damaro said.

"Heh heh…He's joking…right?" V-mon asked.

"I think he's serious." Gabumon said. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere. The forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that."

"And now, bedtime. Off you trots." Damaro said.

The whole student body then started following their own respective prefects to their bedrooms. The Goono's followed a fifth year student through the halls and staircases.

"Please keep an eye on the stairs. They have a habit of changing." The Goono prefect said as the stairs started moving.

The students continued walking up until the seventh and last floor. A pair of sticks floating in the air then started trying to poke the prefect.

"Jojo, stop it." The prefect said.

A little man with wicked eyes and crossed legs, floating in the air, clutching the sticks, then made himself visible.

"Ickle firsties! What fun!" The man said with an mischievous tone in his mouth said.

"Jojo! I'm warning you! Stop, or I'll call the Bloody Duke." The prefect said.

Jojo then huffed and disappeared.

"You might want to watch out for Jojo. He's a poltergeist. Only the Bloody Duke can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects." Said the Goono prefect.

The prefect then turned his attention to the portrait which had a fat lady in it.

"Password?" She said.

"Caput Draconis." The prefect said.

The portrait then swung backwards, revealing a passageway inside it. The students all entered after the prefect, and found themselves inside the Goono Common Room: a cozy, round room full of armchairs.

"First years, your Dormitory is upstairs. Boys, yours is in the right and girls, yours is in the left. You'll find most of your belongings have already been placed there." The prefect said before everyone started heading to their Dormitories.

(Some hours later)

As everyone lay asleep, Daisuke looked outside the window while he petted Yushiba. He was beginning a new life. Knowing that his friends and family were nearby, with Takeru, Patamon, Ken, Wormmon in this room, and everyone else just outside, it was the happiest he ever felt since the death of his parents.

* * *

Well, hope you guys liked it. Review please. Oh, and if you are confused as to which characters are who, they will be varying positions, the only fixed characters are Daisuke and V-mon as Harry Potter obviously. In most stories it's gonna be Daisuke/V-mon-Harry, Takeru/Patamon-Ron, Hikari/Tailmon-Ginny and Hermione, Ken/Wormmon-Neville, Miyako/Hawkmon-Luna and Hermione and Iori/Armadimon-Collin and Neville. In this story, it's more or less Daisuke/V-mon-Harry, Takeru/Patamon-Ron, and Hikari/Tailmon-Hermione mostly. Once again, review please.


	4. Potion Teacher

I do not own anything

* * *

"There, look."

"Where?"

"The reddish brunette next to the tall blonde and blue-haired kids, with the V-mon by his side."

"Wearing goggles?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Those were the most common words, among others, that pursued Daisuke from the moment he left the Dormitory. People, with an exception of those he already knew, the Erabareshi Kodomo, would stare at him and would actually even retreat a few steps after passing him to take another look at his face. He was looking for the classroom he should be in now, and that was not easy as Butaibo had 142 staircases. Not to mention some of the doors were actually portaits that wouldn't open unless you asked politely or tickled them. Plus, he, V-mon, Ken, and Wormmon accidentally got lost and ended up, somehow, in the prohibited floor which was told by Damaro-sensei. When Fuki, along with his cat, Ms. Dam, caught them, he threatened to lock them up in the dungeons, but they were saved by Kurata-sensei. Yup. Daisuke and V-mon were in a really bad mood.

Daisuke also quickly learned that there was a lot more to magic than just wand waving and all the fun the people believe. First you had to study the night sky, check out the stars, learn the movement of planets, etc. Then, there was Herbology, which was taught by a tall and chubby teacher known as Moyashi-sensei, in which they found out all about these strange plants and fungi and what they were used for.

Next in the list was History of Magic, which was taught by a ghost itself after he accidentally fell asleep in front of the staff room fire. The next morning, he left his body to teach. He talked on and on while the students furiously noted down the names and dates.

There was also Kurushin-sensei, a tiny wizard who taught them Charms and had a Mamemon as a partner. He actually had to stand on top of a pile of books when talking so that the students could see him.

Lastly, there was Nakamura-sensei, who Daisuke quickly learned that he was quite right about the first impression he had of her. She already gave them that strict talk about behavior in class from the moment their arrived.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Butaibo." She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She took out her wand, pointed it at the table, and the next thing the students knew, it was a pig. They all gasped in awe, before Nakamura-sensei transformed it back. Unfortunately, they soon learned that things weren't going to be as easy or as fun as they thought. They began the class by taking all sorts of complicated notes, before they were each given a match to try and turn it into a silver needle. In the end, the only person who was capable of actually doing some kind of difference, albeit very little, was Hikari, by turning the tip of the match silver. Still, this did get her some congratulations from Nakamura-sensei, as well as, what Daisuke already knew, was a rare smile.

Finally, it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts, the class everyone, especially Daisuke and V-mon, had been waiting for. Only that the class turned out to more of a joke rather than a class about defending yourselves. Kurata-sensei's classroom smelled of garlic to ward off the vampires he met in Romania, according to him. When asked as to why he had a turban, he told them it was a present from an African prince after he saved him from a zombie. Honestly, everyone doubted that, because when questioned by Samuso about how it happened, he turned red and starting talking about the weather outside. Even Yamato joked that the guy most probably had more garlic inside the turban.

Daisuke was relieved to find out he wasn't behind many people, as much of them came from Muggle families, and even others of the Wizarding world didn't have that much of a head start.

Finally, after a week of studying, Daisuke and the others settled down at the Great Hall. Since it was Friday, they had the middle of the day onwards off. But in exchange, Goono had two full periods with Suruberu and their Head of House Sato.

"They say he always favors them, we'll see if it's true." Takeru said as he ate breakfast.

"I wish Nakamura favored us." V-mon replied. It didn't matter that Nakamura was the Head of House of Goono, but that didn't stop her from giving them all a bunch of homework to give on the next day. The only ones who always seemed to be able to keep up with the work were Hikari and Miyako.

Just then, the mail arrived, as it would every morning, with owls flying into the Great Hall and dropping the packages on their respective owners. Daisuke never received any, Yushiba would normally just come flying down and land on his side, nibbling his ear or taking a piece of his toast, before flying back to the Owlery. So imagine his surprise when he received a letter. Daisuke thanked Yushiba, who landed on his shoulder again, and gave her a piece of butter toast with bacon, which the snow owl happily accepted. Daisuke then tore open the letter and read its content.

"Dear Daisuke & V-mon,

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around 3:00? I want to hear all about your first week. Send the answer back with Yushiba.

Hengai"

"Would you mind?" Daisuke said as he took Takeru's pen.

"Not at all."

"Yes, please, see you later." Daisuke wrote on the back of the letter.

"We better get going, Potion's is about to start." Hikari said.

"Alright, see you guys later." Miyako and Hawkmon said as they waved to the Goono students who left to their class.

Daisuke was glad that he would be together with his friends later, because the Potion class wasn't really fun at all. When Daisuke first saw Sato, he thought he disliked him. How wrong he had been. Sato did not dislike Daisuke. What gave him that insane idea? No. Sato **hated** Daisuke; he despised him, with an anger hotter than the flames of hell.

It all began downstairs in the dungeons, where the class was to take place. It was dark and filled with jars full of animal remains and organs, making it quite spooky. Sato already began class by barging into the room, his very presence silencing everybody. He proceeded to take the roll call, followed by another teacher lecture of how important the subject at hand was.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving in my class, and many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you to really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…However, for those select few despondent to learn, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper to death." Sato said as he grabbed the tip of his cloak and crossed his arms. "Yet again…Some of you have come to Butaibo with skills so remarkable that you're willing enough to not pay attention." Sato said as he now looked at Daisuke, making the tension very thick.

"Motomiya-san, our new _celebrity_…" Sato said. "Tell me Motomiya, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel with an infusion of wormwood."

"_Powdered root of aspho-what with a what?_"

"I don't know sir." Daisuke replied, but he could se in the corner of his eye, much to his amazement, that Hikari had lifted her hand. He knew she liked school, but damn, this was a little overboard.

"Tut, tut, tut. Cleary fame isn't everything." Sato said. "Let try again. Where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar for me?"

Daisuke could here Koaku, Dracomon, Nisaka, Candmon, Goiru, and Kunemon snickering on the other side of the room while Hikari still had her hand up.

"I don't know sir."

"Thought you wouldn't have to open your book before classes, eh?" Sato said.

Daisuke had checked his book. When he first bought his material, he read as much as he could about all different kinds of subject, and considering it was Daisuke who was actually _reading_, that meant a lot. But did Sato really expect him to memorize all that was written in "1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi"?

"What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Sato asked.

Hikari was know stretching her hand really high in the air.

"I don't know sir." Daisuke said. "I think Hikari-chan does, though, try asking her."

The classroom erupted into laughter at Daisuke's comment, and Daisuke saw Samuso wink at him from behind his desk.

"Enough!" Sato snapped. "For your information Motomiya, asphodel with wormwood makes makes a sleeping potion so powerful, it is known as Draught of the Living Death. A bezoar is a stone found in the stomach of a goat which will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well, why aren't any of you copying that down?"

Immediately, pens were clicked and notes started being taken furiously, the sound of pens scribbling being heard all over the room.

"And a will be a point taken from Goono for your cheek Motomiya."

From that point forward, things didn't get any better for Goono. Sato decided to do a pair work and to make a potion to cure boils. He watched them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing all of them during the process, except for Koaku and Dracomon, who he seemed to like. He just kept telling everyone about how perfectly Koaku and Dracomon stewed their horned slugs when something went wrong. A boy who was partnered with Samuso had somehow managed to melt the cauldron, and in less than 10 seconds, everyone was standing on their stools, except for the boy, who was drenched with the potion and was now on the floor whimpering as boils started appearing in his body.

"Idiot boy, I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire!" Sato said. "You take him to the Hospital Wing." Sato spat at Samuso, before he turned his attention to Daisuke, who had been working next to the boy.

"You, Motomiya, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Goono."

Okay, that was just unfair. Daisuke was being blamed for what somewhat had gotten wrong? He opened his mouth to argue, since he was the type to always speak out his mind, but was stopped when Takeru elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't push it." Takeru muttered. "I heard Sato can turn really nasty. From what I've heard, he is still being nice, especially by taking only two points away."

V-mon, on the other hand, agreed with his partner in the unfairness that Goono was suffering and was surprised to see Sato's partner, Impmon, instead of correcting his human's attitude, was snickering at the situation, as if he was having fun.

By the time class ended and everyone was leaving, Daisuke was starting to feel a little down, his mind racing with questions as to why Sato hated him so much.

"Cheer up Daisuke-san." Ken said. "From what Takeru told me, Sato is always taking points off Yamato-san because he attracts too many girls and Taichi-san for not having a haircut in a long time. Say, can we come with you to meet Hengai?"

Daisuke replied gladly at the idea, and at 2:55 PM, the team headed to Hengai's Hut, which was in front of the Forbidden Forest. Daisuke knocked on the wooden door, and heard a voice say: "Back, Kiba, back!"

Hengai then opened the door, holding his black boarhound by the collar.

"Come in, make yourselves at home." Hengai said.

The group walked into the small house, which actually only had one room. But Daisuke and V-mon thought it was a nice place, as well as big enough for a person and his Digimon and some pets, plus, it matched Hengai, and had all that was necessary to make it comfortable enough to live in.

"Muchomon, Hengai-san, these are our friends Ken, Wormmon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari-chan, Tailmon, Miyako, and Hawkmon." V-mon introduced the group.

Hengai took just one look at Miyako before saying "Heh, another Inoue." He could easily see the resemblance between her and her siblings.

"So, tell me all about your first week." Hengai said.

They all started relating their favorite and most despised experiences in their first week. Daisuke and V-mon told Hengai and Muchomon about Sato and Impmon, and their Potion class. Muchomon told them that Sato and Impmon hardly liked any student.

"But he seemed to really hate me." Daisuke replied.

"Rubbish! Why would he?" Hengai replied. But for some reason, Daisuke and V-mon felt as if Hengai was hiding something. "So how's your father doing? I liked him a lot; great with animals." Hengai told Takeru. Daisuke wondered if Hengai changed the subject on purpose.

He and V-mon then noticed the Daily Prophet on the table and saw a title that quite interested him.

**MAHGINKO BREAK-IN LATEST**

Investigations continue in the break-in at Mahginko on August 1, believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.

Mahginko goblins insisted today that nothing was stolen. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied that same day.

"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you." Said Mahginko spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Daisuke and V-mon remembered Miyako telling them about the break-in at Mahginko, but she didn't mention the date.

"Hengai! That Mahginko break-in happened on the day we were there! It might've been happening while we were there!" V-mon said.

This time, Hengai and Muchomon avoided eye-contact with Daisuke and V-mon. Something was going on. That day, Hengai emptied vault 713. Could that have been what the thieves were looking for? Where was it now? And did Hengai know something about Sato that they didn't?

* * *

Well, I hope you liked it. Just so you know, I will finish this story before I update any of my other stories. Review please.


	5. Midnight Duel

I do not own anything

* * *

While Daisuke lived in the Muggle world, he believed that he would never meet a bully that he hated more than the ones in his school. Until he met Koaku Ryu and Dracomon. At least he and the other Erababreshi Kodomo didn't have to put up with them in any other class aside from Potion…until they saw the notice in the Goono Common Room saying that as of next week, starting Thursday, they would be having Flying lessons with Suruberu, making them all groan.

"Typical. Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Koaku." Daisuke said darkly.

What was supposed to be his favorite class, more than any other, was now going to be ruined by the sound of Koaku laughing at him.

"You don't know you'll make a fool of yourself." Takeru said, trying to cheer up his friend. "Anyway, I know Koaku is always going on about how he is good at Quidditch, but I bet it's all talk."

Daisuke wasn't too sure about that. All families of pure-blood lineage talked about how they went flying on a broomstick in their childhood, albeit Koaku's was a bit exaggerated, always ending with him heroically escaping Muggle attack-helicopters.

Miyako was also nervous about flying. That was one thing you couldn't learn by reading a book. Didn't mean she didn't try, though. During breakfast on the Thursday, she bored them all stupid with these flying tips.

The next moments, the owls flew into the castle, dropping in the mail. Ken opened his package to see himself holding a sphere of glass.

"It's a Remembrall." Ken said. "It tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Mom sent it so that I won't forget anything. You hold it tightly and if it becomes scarlet, it means you've forgotten something."

Ken showed an example and pressed it tightly in his fingers, and a scarlet cloud smoke appeared inside the ball. Ken was now trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Koaku and his gang passed by and snatched it from his hand.

Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Ken, and Wormmon. They were hoping Koaku and his friends would give them a reason to fight them, but Nakamura-sensei and WhitePawnChessmon, who could spot trouble faster than any other teachers in the school, were there in a moment.

"What's going on?" BlackPawnChessmon asked.

"Koaku's got my Rememberall, BlackPawnChessmon." Ken said, making the others gap. Ken wasn't the type to hide behind teachers when dealing with bullies.

"Just looking." Koaku scowled as he threw the ball carelessly back at the Erabareshi Kodomo before leaving with the others, and therefore, Black and WhitePawnChessmon and Nakamura-sensei also.

"Why did you tell her?" Wormmon asked.

"Fighting here is against the rules. We would've lost Goono points." Ken replied as they sat down.

At 3:30 PM, that same day, all of the Goonos headed down to the Flying Grounds to begin the Flying lessons. It was a clear day, with a nice soft breeze and a few clouds in the sky. The Suruberus were already there, along with about twenty broomsticks lying on the ground. Shortly after, Mada Inryo, their teacher, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and eyes shaped like that of a hawk.

"Everyone stand by a broomstick." Madam Inryo said as the students followed her instructions. "Now put your right hand over the broomstick and say "Up!"."

"Up!" Daisuke said. Instantly, the broomstick flew up to Daisuke's hand, and was also one of the few.

"Up!" Said Takeru, making the broom fly straight to his face, hitting his nose, causing Daisuke and V-mon to chuckle. "Shut up Daisuke, V-mon." Takeru said playfully.

Hikari was only able to get her broomstick to roll for a few minutes before it flew up to her hands, while Ken's didn't move at all. After everyone had gotten their brooms and gotten into position, Madam Inryo warned them to "kick off the ground, hard, when she blew her whistle." They were supposed to keep their brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come back down.

"One…Two…" But before the whistle blew, a nervous Ken accidentally started flying. "Come back down, boy!"

Ken's broomstick started flying away like crazy before turning around and hitting the wall, making him fall about twenty feet from the sky onto the ground with a thud. Madam Inryo and Wormmon immediately headed to Ken and bended over him.

"Broken wrist." Daisuke heard her mutter. "Come on boy. It's all right, up you get. None of you move while I take this boy to the Hospital Wing! You leave those broomsticks right were they are or you'll be out of Butaibo before you can say "Quidditch"." Inryo told the student.

Daisuke saw Ken agony-twisted red face, clutching his face as he passed by him, along with Madam Inryo and Wormmon. No sooner than after they were in out of earshot, Koaku and his group burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, that great lump?" Koaku said.

"Shut up Koaku!" Ruika Rin snapped.

"Oh, sticking up for Ichijouji?" Said Okimoto Onua, a Suruberu said. "Never thought you'd like little cry-babies Ruika."

"Look!" Koaku said as he picked of a sphere of glass on the grass floor. "It's that stupid thing Ichijouji's mom sent him." Koaku said as the Rememberall glittered in the sunlight.

"Give it here Koaku." Daisuke said. At that, everyone stopped talking to watch, knowing about the bitter rivalry between Daisuke, V-mon, Koaku, and Dracomon.

"No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Ichijouji to find. How about the roof?" Koaku said as he got on his broom and flew to the sky. "Come and get it Motomiya!"

"Daisuke-san, no! You heard Madam Inryo. You'll get us all into trouble." A Goono student said.

Daisuke just ignored her. He was to angry to pay attention to what anything said. Daisuke got atop his broomstick and kicked hard against the ground, and soared into the sky, the wind rushing past him, making everyone on the ground scream and gasp. Only when Daisuke was in front of Koaku had he realized it: he was flying. He was able to do something magical without being taught. And the look on Koaku's face was rich, he looked stunned.

"Give it here, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Daisuke said warningly.

"Oh yeah?" Koaku said, trying to sneer, but only ended up looking worried.

Daisuke charged straight at Koaku, nearly grabbing, Koaku just barely dodging in the nick of time by sliding, and nearly falling to the floor. He was, however, able to hold tightly to the broom and climb back up and Daisuke made a turn, holding his broom steady in the air.

"No Dracomon, Nisaka, Candmon, Goiru, or Kunemon up here to save your butt Koaku." Daisuke said, making Koaku look worried.

"Catch it if you can then!" Koaku said as he threw the Rememberall before flying back down to the ground as fast as he could.

Daisuke speeded after the Rememberall, which lightly rose up in the air before it started falling down towards the ground. He then dived after the ball, gathering even more speed, making several others scream. Daisuke stretched out his hand, almost reaching the ball as he got closer and closer to the ground. Daisuke was able to catch the ball and make a sharp turn, flying about 4cm above the ground, so close that the grass itself moved with the sheer force produced from Daisuke's speed. A second later, he found himself surrounded by cheers and applauses from the Goono students.

"MOTOMIYA DAISUKE!" Three voices screamed.

The cheers and applauses died when they saw Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, and WhitePawnChessmon standing there, a furious look on their faces.

"Never, in all my time in Butaibo…!" Nakamura said.

"How _dare_ you; might've broken your neck!" WhitePawnChessmon continued.

"It wasn't his fault sensei…" Rin said.

"Be quiet Ruika-san…" BlackPawnChessmon replied.

"But Koaku…"

"That's enough Takaishi-san. Motomiya, follow us, now." WhitePawnChessmon said.

The last thing Daisuke and V-mon caught glance of was Koaku and his friends smirking at them. Daisuke knew he was going to be expelled. They followed their teachers along the corridors before they stopped in front of a door in the middle of the corridor.

"Excuse me Kurata-sensei, could I borrow Ishida and for a moment?" Nakamura-sensei asked.

"Absolutely." Daisuke and V-mon heard Kurata-sensei reply.

Moments later, Yamato and Gabumon came out of the classroom with a confused look on their faces.

"Follow us, you four." Nakamura-sensei said as they walked down the corridors.

"What did you do this time?" Yamato asked Daisuke silently so that their teachers wouldn't hear him.

"Long story." Daisuke said.

"In here." Renamon said as they all walked into a classroom which was empty.

"Motomiya, V-mon, this is…"

"Ishida Yamato." Daisuke finished for his teacher.

"You know each other?" Renamon asked.

"They're our successors." Yamato and Gabumon said.

"Well, Ishida, I have found you a Seeker." Nakamura-sensei said.

Instantly, Yamato's and Gabumon's expression changed from one of puzzlement to delight.

"Are you serious sensei?" Gabumon asked.

"Absolutely." BlackPawnChessmon said. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick Motomiya?"

Daisuke nodded. He didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem like he was being expelled.

"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive." Nakamura-sensei told Yamato and Gabumon as she pointed at the Rememberall in Daisuke's hand. "Didn't even scratch himself. Nobody could have done it."

Gabumon was looking as though all his dreams had come true.

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Motomiya?" Yamato asked as he smirked at Daisuke.

"Ishida's the captain of the Goono team." WhitePawnChessmon explained.

"He's just the build for a Seeker too." Gabumon said as he checked out Daisuke, walking around him. "Light, speedy; we'll have to get him a decent broom sensei. A Nimbus 2000 or a Cleansweep Seven I'd say."

"I shall speak to Damaro-sensei and see if we can bend the first-year rule. Heaven knos we need a better team than last year. Flattened in the last match by Suruberu, I couldn't look Sato Savaro or Impmon in the face for weeks." Nakamura said.

"I want to hear you're training hard Motomiya, or I might change my opinion about punishing you." WhitePawnChessmon said.

Nakamura-sensei then suddenly smiled.

"Your father would have been proud. He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

(A while later)

"You're joking!"

It was dinnertime and Daisuke had just finished telling the others about what had happened when he left the Grounds with Nakamura-sensei and WhitePawnChessmon and BlackPawnChessmon. The others were completely amazed by it.

"Seeker?" Takeru said. "But first years _never_ play Quidditch. You must be the youngest house player in about…"

"A century." V-mon said as he shoved the pie into his mouth. "Yamato-san told us."

Everyone was just so amazed that they gaped at Daisuke.

"I start training next week." Daisuke said. "Only don't tell anyone. Yamato-san wants to keep it a secret."

"Well done." Jun said. "We're in the team too-Beaters." Jun said as she pointed to her and Taichi.

"I tell you, we're going to win the Quidditch cup for sure this year. We haven't won since Greg left, but this year's team is going to be great. You must be good Daisuke-san. Yamato and Gabumon were almost skipping when they told us." Taichi said, making everyone laugh, but Yamato just smirked. He was in too much of a good mood for Taichi to ruin.

Just then, some far less welcome guests turned up, Koaku, followed by his friends.

"Having a last meal Motomiya? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and got you're little friends." Daisuke replied. Since they were in the Great Hall, being supervised by teachers, they could do nothing more than glare at each other while exchanging mean words.

"We'd take you on anytime." Dracomon said, speaking for the first time. "Tonight if you want. Wizard's and Digimon's duel. Wands and evolutions only, no contacts."

"You're on." V-mon replied darkly.

"Who's your second?" Koaku asked.

"My little brother. Who's yours?" Yamato added, knowing very well that neither Daisuke nor Takeru knew what they meant by second.

Koaku looked back at his group before replying "Nisaka. Midnight, tonight, at the Trophy Room."

"What does he mean by second?" Takeru asked.

"In case Daisuke-san dies, you take on." Yamato said as he ate a piece of his stake, but then saw the look on Daisuke's, V-mon's, Takeru's, and Patamon's faces and quickly added "But that's only during real wizard duels. You kids will only be throwing sparks at each other."

"Daisuke-kun, Takeru-kun, no. You'll lose all the House Points Goono won. It'd be really selfish of you." Hikari said.

"And it's really none of your business." Daisuke replied as he ate his dinner.

"You can't tell me you're possible going to let them do this Jun-san?" Tailmon said.

"Once my brother makes up his mind, it's impossible to change it. Besides, I also want to see somebody kick that little snot-nosed kid's butt." Jun said.

(Later that night)

Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon carefully walked down the steps to not wake anybody up. They were almost near the exit when…

"I can't believe you're going to do this."

A lamp flickered on and the four turned back to see Hikari with Tailmon on her lap, wearing a pink bathrobe.

"You! Go to bed!" Takeru said furiously.

"I almost told a prefect, he would put a stop to this." Hikari replied.

Daisuke and the others couldn't believe that there was a side of Hikari that could be more interfering than her brother.

"Come on." V-mon told the others as they continued out the portrait, but Hikari was not about to give up so easily.

"You guys clearly don't care about Goono, just about yourselves. I don't want to see Suruberu win the House Cup, and you'll make us lose all the points Nakamura-sensei gave us."

"Go away." All of the four boys said.

"All right, but we warned you." Tailmon said as she and her partner turned to head back to the Common Room when they were faced with a problem. The Fat Lady wasn't in the portrait. "…Well, were coming with you."

"You are **not**." Patamon replied.

"Do you think we're going to stand out here and wait for Fuki to catch us? If he finds the three of us, then I'm going to tell him the truth." Hikari said.

"You are not…" Takeru started.

"Shut up, both of you!" V-mon said. "It's too risky to leave the girls here. Tailmon and Hikari are coming with us."

The last statement made Takeru and Patamon groan.

"If you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned the Curse of the Bogies Kurata told us about and used it on you." Takeru said.

The group arrived at the Trophy Room and waited for minutes for Koaku, Nisaka, Dracomon, and Candmon to arrive.

"They're late. Maybe they chickened out." Patamon suggested.

They soon heard a voice that wasn't Koaku's.

"Sniff, my sweetie, sniff. They must be hear somewhere." Fuki's voice said.

"This way!" Daisuke mouthed as they ran as silently as possible down the corridor, continuously looking back and forth to see if Fuki was catching up, resulting in Patamon hitting a suit of armor, making it fall down to the floor and cause noise hard enough to wake the whole school up. "RUN!" Daisuke said as they dashed down the corridor and hid around the corner.

"I…told…you." Tailmon said, in between breaths.

"Koaku tricked you. You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet. Fuki knew someone was going to be in the Trophy Room, Koaku probably tipped him off."

But as soon as they tuned to walk down the corridor, they were face-to-face with Jojo.

"What are ickle firsties doing down here?" Jojo asked with a devilish grin.

"Shut up Jojo, please, you'll get us thrown out." Daisuke said.

"You'll get caughty?" Jojo said.

"Not if you don't give us away Jojo, please." Hikari begged.

"Should tell Fuki, should I?" Jojo asked.

"Get out of my way!" Takeru said, finally snapping. Huge mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" Jojo screamed.

The six turned around and ran down the opposite direction. They were met by a door, but it was locked.

"That's it, we're done for." Patamon said.

"Oh move over!" Hikari said. "Alohomora!" Hikari said as she pointed her wand at the lock of the door, unlocking it, and they all quickly got in.

The group stayed with their ears on the door, trying to hear what was going on outside, until the area was clear.

"Alohomora?" Patamon asked.

"It's an unlocking spell." Hikari explained.

"Yeah, and this door was locked for a good reason." Daisuke said, never taking his eyes off what was in front of him, along with the others who were now seeing the same sight he was.

They were in the forbidden corridor, the forbidden corridor of the third-floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. Looking straight at them and vice-versa was a three-headed enormous dog that covered from the floor to the ceiling, saliva drooling out of their mouths whilst growling.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The six of them screamed as they turned around and opened the door, running back outside and trying with all their strength to close the door which was being pushed back by the dog which was trying to get through, until the group managed to shut and lock the door, and ran all the way back to the seventh floor, by which time the Fat Lady had returned and they were able to get back inside the Goono Common Room.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a dog like that in school? !" Patamon asked as he panted.

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?" Tailmon replied.

"I don't know, the floor?" V-mon suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with the heads."

"It was standing atop a trapdoor. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll go back to bed before one of you comes up with another brilliant idea to get us all killed, or worse, expelled." Hikari said as she and her Digimon headed back to the Girls Dormitory.

Now Hikari had given Daisuke and V-mon something to think about as they climbed back to bed. That dog was guarding something? Could it be that it was guarding the package Hengai took from vault 713?

* * *

I hope you liked the chapter. Review please.


	6. Halloween

I do not own anything.

* * *

Koaku and Dracomon couldn't believe their eyes the next day when they saw Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon still at Butaibo. The four, on the other hand, were grinning and Suruberus faces. By the next day, following the three-headed dog incident, Daisuke made up his mind that he had to tell the others about the package in vault 713.

"It must be either really valuable or really dangerous." Jyou said.

"Or both." Koushiro replied.

But as far as they knew for now the package from vault 713 was two inches, and couldn't guess what it was without further details.

"So you ran into a giant three-headed dog while I was at the Hospital Wing? Man, you guys have the craziest adventures when I'm not around." Wormmon said as he ate some of his food.

As usual, the owls flooded into the Great Hall, Yushiba bringing a large, thin package, along with five other owls, before dropping it before Daisuke, much to everyone's amazement. Daisuke pulled out the letter attached to the package and read it quickly as possible, anxious to open it.

"DO NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE

It contains your new Nimbus 2000, but I do not want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick, or else they'll all want one. Ishida Yamato will meet you tonight at the Quidditch field at 7'o clock for your first training session.

Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon & WhitePawnChessmon

"You already got your own broomstick?" Takeru moaned enviously.

"Well, after the show you told me he gave after I broke my wrist, it's only natural." Ken replied.

"Guys, wanna go upstairs with me and help me unwrap it?" V-mon asked.

"Yup." Tailmon replied.

Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Ken, Wormmon, Hikari, and Tailmon all grabbed the package and hurried out of the Great Hall. They were, unfortunately, blocked by Koaku and his friends, and Koaku quickly took the package from Daisuke's hand.

"This is a broomstick." Koaku said as he threw the package back to Daisuke.

"You're in for it this time Motomiya; first years are not allowed to have their own brooms." Dracomon stated.

"It's not just any broomstick Koaku, it's a Nimbus 2000. What do you have at home, a Comet 260? Comets look flashy, but it's not in the same league as the Nimbus." Takeru said. He knew somewhat about brooms, his brother being the Goono captain and all.

"Shut up Takaishi, what would you know? You don't even have a broom." Koaku replied.

Kurushin-sensei and Mamemon then arrived before Takeru could answer.

"Not arguing I hope boys." Mamemon said.

"Motomiya's got a broomstick sensei." Koaku said, anxious to get Daisuke expelled.

"Yes, yes, that's right." Kurushin-sensei said as he and Mamemon beamed at Daisuke. "Nakamura-sensei told me all about the special circumstances Motomiya. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus 2000 sir." Daisuke said, struggling with all his might to not laugh at the horror on Koaku's face. "And it's really thanks to Koaku here that I've got it."

Daisuke and the others then left, shaking with laughter at the rage and confusion on Koaku's and Dracomon's face, along with that of his friends.

Once they got to the Goono Common Room, they all unwrapped the broom. It looked great, even in the eyes of those who knew nothing about brooms. It was sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, a long tail of neat, straight twigs, and Nimbus 2000 written in gold on the top.

At 6:50, Daisuke and V-mon left the castle and set off to the Quidditch stadium. The stadium was huge, with hundreds of seats around the stadium about 300 feet into the air. Too eager to wait for Yamato to arrive, Daisuke and V-mon mounted the broom and Daisuke took of into the air.

"Hey, Daisuke-san, come down!"

Daisuke and V-mon looked down to see Yamato and Gabumon had arrived, carrying a large crate with them, and the duo descended back onto the ground.

"Nice. I see what Nakamura meant…you really are a natural." Yamato said.

"All you'll be learning tonight are the rules. Then you'll join the team practice three times a week." Gabumon said.

"Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy too play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are Chaser, which includes Sora in our team."

"Three Chasers." Daisuke repeated as Gabumon took out a crimson ball from the crate and gave it to his human.

"This ball's called the Quaffle." Yamato said. "The Chasers throw it to each other and try to get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. 10 points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"

"I think so." Daisuke replied.

"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper. I'm Keeper for Goono. I have to fly around and out of the hoops and stop the other team from scoring."

"Okay, got it."

"What are those for?" V-mon asked, pointing at the three balls left inside the crate.

"…You might wanna hold this." Yamato said as he gave Daisuke a wooden club before letting go of the restraints that were holding one of the balls, which was black and smaller but appeared to be harder than the Quaffle, making it jump high into the air. "Careful, it's coming back now."

As the ball came back down, Daisuke hit it perfectly with the club, sending it flying away and throw a small hole in one of statues, making Yamato and Gabumon raise the eyebrows in surprise at Daisuke's ability.

"Not bad Motomiya. Ever think about being a Beater?" Gabumon asked, making Daisuke grin.

"It's coming back." Yamato stated as he saw the ball returning, at caught with a full blow to the body, making him fall to the floor before putting the ball back in the crate after some struggle.

"What is that?" Daisuke asked.

"That was a Bludger. Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team; Taichi and Jun are ours, it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them towards the other team. So, you think you've got all that?" Yamato asked.

"Three Chasers try to score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from the team." Daisuke and V-mon reeled off.

"Very good." Yamato said.

"Er, have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Daisuke asked.

"Never at Butaibo. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers…"

"Unless they crack his head open." V-mon replied.

"Don't worry, Taichi and Jun are more than a match for the Bludgers; they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves." Yamato said. He then reached for a small golden ball, about the size of a walnut, with then unfolded its silver wings. "_This_ is the Golden Snitch. It's the most important ball of the game. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and almost impossible to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to catch it before the other team's Seeker. The Seeker who catches this wins 150 points for his team, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers are fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught."

"Any questions?" Gabumon asked.

Daisuke shook his head. His understood perfectly what he had to do.

"We won't start with the Snitch yet. It's too dark and we'd lose it. We'll try with these." Yamato said as he pulled out a bag full of golf balls.

Minutes later, Yamato and Daisuke were up in the air, Yamato throwing the balls as hard as he could in every direction for Daisuke to catch.

Daisuke didn't miss a single one, and Yamato was delighted. After half an hour, night had fallen and they decided it was enough.

"That Quidditch cup'll be ours this year." Gabumon said happily. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out to be better than Greg."

(The next day)

Maybe it was because they have been so busy lately with homework and Quidditch, but Daisuke nor V-mon, nor anyone else could believe it had already been 2 months since they arrived at Butaibo. It was Halloween week now, and Daisuke and V-mon woke up to the smell of baking pumpking in the corridors. They then remembered the school was also starting to get more interesting. Today, they were finally going to learn how to levitate objects, which they all had been dying to do since Kurushin-sensei had made Ken's toad fluctuate through the classroom. Kurushin-sensei had divided them into pairs to practice. Daisuke and V-mon were partnered with Samuso and Hagurumon, while Takeru and Patamon were with Hikari and Tailmon.

"Now, don't forget the swish and flick movement we've been practicing. And pronouncing the magic words is important too. Wizard Bango said it with an "s" instead of "g" found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." Mamemon said.

The lesson was very difficult. Everyone tried very hard to levitate the feather, but failed. Samuso got so impatient he started flicking wildly and ended up setting the feather on fire, which Daisuke had to put out with his robes.

Takeru, on the other hand, was also having trouble.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Takeru said as he waved his wand.

"You're saying it wrong. It's Levi_o_sa, not Levios_a_." Hikari said.

"You do it then if you're so clever." Takeru replied.

Hikari flicked her wand and said "Wingardium Leviosa". The feather rose off the desk and flied in the air.

"Well done Yagami-san, well done! 10 points for Goono!" Mamemon said.

"Everyone see here, Yagami-san's done it!" Kurushin-sensei said.

(A while later)

"_It's Levi_o_sa, not Levios_a_._" Takeru said imitating Hikari in a girly voice.

"God Takeru-kun, you're so immature sometimes." Hikari replied.

"And you're a nightmare." Takeru answered back.

Once the group got straight into the Great Hall, they were surprised by the decorations. Thousands of live bats flied across the ceiling and some across the table, along with some pumpkins lit by candles inside floating above it. The feasts appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had on the start-of-term banquet.

Daisuke then saw something brown fly past by him and turned to the side to see it was a chocolate muffin which hit Hikari in the face. Hearing a bunch of laughter, Daisuke and the others looked at the Suruberu table and saw it was Koaku who had thrown it. Hikari fled the Great Hall in tears, with Tailmon running after her.

By then, everyone was ready to pick a fight with Suruberu; especially Takeru, Patamon, V-mon, Taichi, and Agumon, and the teachers were ready to take house points from Suruberu, except Sato, but they were all cut short when Daisuke calmly walked towards Koaku.

"I hope she likes chocolate, Motomiya. I threw it with a lot of care." Koaku said with sarcasm, making Suruberu laugh even more, until Daisuke pushed Koaku. Koaku pushed back, making some of the students stand up to interfere, seeing that things were about to get physical.

"Ryu, stop it…" A Suruberu student said.

"You stay out of this!" Koaku said as he turned to reply in her face.

As soon as Koaku turned back, however, Daisuke punched him straight in the face, breaking his nose and making him fall hard against the floor, hitting his head strongly against the ground while clutching his nose and crying at the same time, the blood very apparent in his hands.

By then it seemed that a fight was ready to go on in the Great Hall, but was immediately forgotten when Kurata-sensei and Gottsumon came running through the doors.

"TROOOOOOOLL! IN THE DUNGEONS!...Thought you ought to know." Kurata-sensei and Gottsumon said as they fell dead faint to the floor.

There was an uproar.

"**SILENCE!**" Damaro-sensei yelled at the top of his lungs while several firecrackers exploded from the tip of his wand.

"Prefects," Hyokomon, Damaro-sensei's partner, said. "lead your Houses back to the dormitory immediately."

"Follow me. Stick together first years. No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders. Stay close behind me now."

"How did a troll get in?" Daisuke asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid." Said Ken. "Maybe Jojo let it in for a Halloween joke."

As they continued climbing the stairs, jostling through a crowd of confused Chuhorus, Daisuke grabbed Takeru's arm and Patamon's wing.

"I've just thought-Hikari-chan and Tailmon." Daisuke said.

"She doesn't know about the troll!" Patamon said alarmed.

Ducking, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru and Patamon joined the Chuhorus going the other way, and left in the deserted side corridor and hurried off towards the girls' bathroom. They had just turned around the corner when they heard quick footsteps. They looked back to see Sato and Impmon cross the hall and disappear from view.

"What're they doing here?" V-mon whispered. "Why aren't they down in the dungeons together with the other teachers?"

"Beats me." Patamon replied.

The four quickly followed up and hid themselves against the corner to see Sato and Impmon climbing up the stairs.

"He's heading for the third-floor." Daisuke said.

"Can you smell something?" Takeru asked as he covered his nose.

Daisuke sniffed and a foul stench of old sweaty socks and dirty toilets reached his nose. He quickly covered it, wondering where this smell was coming from. Takeru pointed at the hall on their side. Twelve feet tall, its skin dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs, thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming out of it was horrible. It was also holding a huge wooden club, which it dragged along the floor.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside, before waggling its long ears, making up its mind, the slouched slowly inside the room. The next thing they heard made their hearts stop: a high, petrified scream.

"Oh no." Takeru said, pale as a ghost.

"The girls' bathroom..." Daisuke gasped.

"**Hikari-chan, Tailmon!**" Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon said together as they sprinted at the direction of the door. Daisuke pulled the door open and they ran inside.

Hikari was shrinking against the wall on the opposite side, with Tailmon knocked in front of her while the troll continued advancing towards them, knock the sinks off the wall as he went.

"Confuse it!" Daisuke said desperately.

Takeru took a tap that lay on the floor and threw at the troll. Daisuke followed this action by grabbing a piece of the broken sink and threw at it while Patamon launched an "Air Shot" and V-mon used "V-mon Head" on the troll, knocking him back a few steps.

"Oi, pea-brain!" Takeru said as he grabbed a piece of the destroyed sink and threw it. By now, the troll was starting to turn to them, giving Daisuke and V-mon the chance to run around towards Hikari.

"Come on, run, **run!**" Daisuke yelled at Hikari while V-mon picked up Tailmon, trying to pull her towards the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with horror.

The shouting and echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. He was now flinging his club wildly while starting towards Takeru and Patamon. Daisuke then did something that was both really brave and really stupid. He ran towards the troll and grabbed onto his club. The troll swingged his club forward and Daisuke let go, falling on the troll neck and accidentally, in the despair of the moment, he accidentally shoved his wand into the troll's nose, making it start twisting and flailing its club in all directions, forcing Daisuke to hold on for his dear life.

V-mon and Patamon continued fighting while Takeru pulled out his wand and said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Takeru casted, making the club float out of the troll's hand, flip over, and fall on its head, making the troll fall with a thud to the floor.

Daisuke rose to his feet, out of breath; Takeru just stared at what he had done, his wand still raised; and Tailmon was starting to wake up.

"Is it…dead?" Hikari asked, speaking first.

"I don't think so, just been knocked out." Daisuke answered.

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh-troll burgers." Daisuke said as he went to the side of the broken sink, which was oozing water, and cleaned his wand there before drying it on the troll's trousers.

Sudden footsteps made the six of them look up to see that some of the teachers had just arrived.

Kurata and Gottsumon took one look and the troll and shook and the sight of it, before leaning against the wall. Saito and Impmon bent over the troll to examine it. As Nakamura-sensei, WhitePawnChessmon, and WhitePawnChessmon, they had never looked so angry. Hopes of winning 50 points for Goono faded quickly from Daisuke's mind.

"What on Earth were you thinking?" The three said simultaneously.

"You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your Dormitory?" BlackPawnChessmon asked.

Saito gave Daisuke a swift, piercing look.

"Please Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, WhitePawnChessmon, they were looking for me." Hikari said.

"…Yagami-san?"

Hikari had finally stood up.

"I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own. You know, because I've read all about them.

Takeru didn't even feel his wand fall off his hand, his mouth open, along with Daisuke, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon. Yagami Hikari was telling a downright lie to a teacher?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Daisuke-kun stuck his wand up his nose and Takeru-kun knocked it out while V-mon and Patamon fought it. They didn't have time to come fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived.

"Well, in that case. Yagami-san, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" WhitePawnChessmon asked.

Hikari looked down. Hikari breaking the rules was like Saito giving out sweets.

"5 points will be taken from Goono for this. I am very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better head off to Goono tower. Students are finishing the feasts in their houses." WhitePawnChessmon said. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could've taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Goono 5 points…Out of sheer dumb luck. Damaro-sensei will be informed of this. You may go."

They all walked off, Hikari and Tailmon a bit faster than the others.

"We should've gotten more than just 10 points." Takeru grumbled.

"5, you mean, once she's taken off Hikari's." Daisuke corrected.

As they entered the Goono Common Room, which was packed and noisy, Hikari and Tailmon stood by the entrance, waiting for them.

"Thanks." They all said to each other before going on to eat the rest of the feast and go back to their Dormitories.

But from that moment on, Hikari and Tailmon were much more relaxed about breaking the rules.

* * *

I hope you liked it. Review please.


	7. Quidditch

I do not own anything.

* * *

As they entered November, the weather started getting cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel.

The Quidditch season had also begun. On Saturday, Daisuke would be playing his first game: Goono vs Suruberu. If Goono won, they would move up to second place in the house championship.

Hardly anyone had seen Daisuke play because Yamato decided that, being their secret weapon, Daisuke should be kept, well, secret. But news that he was playing as the Seeker somehow leaked out, and Daisuke didn't know which was worse; people telling him he'd be brilliant or people telling him they'd be running around underneath holding a mattress.

It was really lucky that Daisuke had Hikari and Ken as friends, otherwise he would have never been able to finish all his homework, with all the last-minute Quidditch practice Yamato was making him do. Miyako had lent him "Quidditch Through the Ages", which turned out to be a very interesting read.

The day before Daisuke's first match, him, Takeru, Hikari, and their partners were walking outside in the freezing courtyard when Sato came walking in their direction. He was limping. He seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off.

"What you've got there Motomiya?" Impmon asked.

It was "Quidditch Through the Ages". Daisuke showed him.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school." Sato said. "Give it to me. 5 points from Goono."

"He just made that up." Daisuke and V-mon muttered angrily.

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg." V-mon wondered.

"Dunno. Hope's it's really hurting him." Takeru said bitterly.

That evening, the Goono Common Room was packed and noisy. The group was sitting by the window. Hikari and Ken, whose arm had already fully healed, were helping them with their Charms homework. Hikari refused to give them the answers; she kept saying "How else will you learn?". Fortunately, Ken was a bit more open and Hikari would check their work, so Daisuke and Takeru got the answers anyway.

Daisuke got restless. He wanted "Quidditch Through the Ages" back to take his mind off his nerves about tomorrow. Why should he be afraid of Sato? He stood up and told the others he was going to ask if he could have it back.

"Better you than me." They all replied.

Daisuke went to the staffroom and knocked. No answer. Daisuke took a quick peek inside and saw Sato, Impmon, Fuki, and Ms. Dam were the only ones inside. Sato was holding his robe above his knees, one of his legs bloody and mangled.

"Blasted thing." Sato said. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"

Daisuke tried to close the door quietly, but…

"MOTOMIYA!"

Sato's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes to quickly hide his leg. Daisuke gulped.

"I just wondered if I could have my book back."

"GET OUT! _OUT!_"

Daisuke left, before Sato could take anymore points from Goono. He sprinted back upstairs.

"Did you get it?" Ken asked as Daisuke joined them. "What's wrong?"

Daisuke whispered to them what he had seen.

"You know what this means?" He finished breathlessly. "Sato and Impmon tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's were they were going when we saw them-they're after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick they let that troll in, as a diversion!"

"No, they wouldn't." Hikari said. "I know they're not nice, but they wouldn't try and steal something Damaro and Hyokomon were keeping safe."

"Honestly Hikari-chan, you think all teachers are saints or something. I'm with Daisuke. I wouldn't put anything past Sato and Impmon."

"But what're they after? What's the dog guarding?" Patamon questioned.

Daisuke went to bed with his head buzzing with the same questions. He tried to empty his mind, he needed to sleep, he had his first Quidditch match in a few hours. But the expression on Sato's face when Daisuke saw his leg wasn't easy to forget.

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

"You've got to eat something."

"I don't want to eat anything."

"Just a bit of toast." Miyako insisted.

"I'm not hungry."

Daisuke felt terrible. In an hour's time he'd be walking into the field.

"Daisuke, you need your strength." Said Kitsu Samuso. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks Samuso." Daisuke said.

By 11'o clock, the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. Hikari had agreed to watch over V-mon for Daisuke during the match. The seats were several feat high in the air.

Takeru, Hikari, Ken, Miyako, Koushiro, Jyou, Mimi, Chizuru, Momoe, Mantarou, V-mon, Patamon, Tailmon, Wormmon, Hawkmon, Agumon, Gabumon, Piyomon, Tentomon, Gomamon, and Palmon were joined by Kitsu Samuso and Hagurumon. That had made a large banner written "Motomiya for Prime Minister" with a Goono lion under it, which was drawn by Samuso. Miyako had also performed a tricky little charm to make the paint flash different colors.

Meanwhile, in the locker room, Daisuke and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes (Suruberu would be playing in green).

Yamato cleared his throat for silence.

"Okay men…" Yamato said.

"And women." Sora and Jun added.

"And women…" Yamato added. "This is it."

"The big one." Said Jun.

"The one we've all been waiting for." Said Taichi.

"We know Yamato's speech by heart," Taichi told Daisuke. "we were on the team last year."

"Shut up you two. This is the best team Goono's had in years. We're going to win. I know it." Yamato said. "Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

The team walked down halls of the stadium and waited for the Goono flag covering them to lift up so that they could start the match.

"Scared Daisuke?" The Captain asked the Seeker.

"A little." Daisuke admitted.

"That's alright. I felt the same way before my first game." Yamato said.

"What happened?" Daisuke asked.

"…Don't really remember. Took a Bludger to the head 2 minutes in. Woke up in the hospital a week later." Yamato answered.

Daisuke now looked as if he were ready to panic.

The flag lifted up, allowing the sun rays to hit the team's faces and to hear the crowds cheers. Mounting their brooms, they all flew into the field.

"Hello, and welcome to Butaibo's first Quidditch game of the season. Today's game: Suruberu vs Goono!" Said Tahiro Yoshi, a friend of Taichi, Yamato, and Jun's.

Daisuke stopped at the center of the field along with all the other players. He saw the banner his friends made for him and felt more confident.

"The players take their position as Madam Inryo goes out onto the field to begin the game." Narrated Yoshi.

"Now, I want a nice, fair game, all of you." Madam Inryo said. She looked at the Suruberu Captain, Izana Fuji, at the last part. Daisuke thought Fuji looked as if he had some troll blood in him.

Inryo kicked open the crate in the center of the field and the Bludgers and the Golden Snitch flew out.

"Remember, the Golden Snitch is worth 150 points. When the Snitch is caught, the game ends." Yoshi said.

Madam Inryo a grabbed the Quaffle, threw it into the air, and the game began with Sora grabbing the Quaffle and charging straight into the opponent's side of the field.

Sora dodged all the people who tried to grab the Quaffle from her and threw it at one of the hoops, scoring.

"Takenouchi scores! 10 points for Goono!"

Cheers from the Goono crowd filled the air, along with moans and howls from Suruberu.

Fuji grabbed the Quaffle this time, passed it to another Chaser, received the Quaffle again, and threw it at the hoops, which was blocked by Yamato.

Fuji glared at Yamato while the blond just smirked at him.

Daisuke was clapping at Sora, before narrowly dodging a Bludger.

"All right there Daisuke-san?" Taichi asked as he hit the Bludger with his club.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hengai-san, Muchomon!"

The Erabareshi Kodomo squeezed together to give their friends space.

"Been watching from me hut." Hengai said with a large pair of binoculars. "But it isn't the same as being in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet?"

"Nope." Ken answered. "Daisuke-kun hasn't had much to do yet."

"Takenouchi passes and-wait a moment-was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as a flash of gold passed a Suruberu Beater's ear.

Daisuke saw it. In a great rush of excitement, he dived downward after the streak of gold. Suruberu Seekeru Hoju Taro had seen it too. Neck to neck, they hurtled towards the Snitch.

Daisuke was faster than Hoju, he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead. He put and extra spurt of speed-

*WHAM*

A roar of rage was heard from Goonos down below. Izana Fuji had blocked Daisuke on purpose, and Daisuke's broom spun of course, Daisuke holding on for his dear life before stopping with his face a few feet away from one of the obelisks of the stadium.

Madam Inryo spoke angrily to Fuji and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Goono.

"So-after that open and revolting foul-"

"Tahiro!" Growled Nakamura-sensei.

"I mean, after Izana nearly kills the Goono Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so penalty to Goono."

A Goono Chaser grabbed the Quaffle and threw it at one of the goal posts, which the Suruberu Keeper failed to catch, scoring.

The game continued; Fuji had gotten hold of the Quaffle and threw it at the hoops, which was again caught by Yamato.

"Gimme that!" Fuji said as he grabbed a club from one of his team's Beaters and hit the Bludger at Yamato, knocking him out and making him fall to the floor.

Daisuke felt rage build up inside him, he was about to fly towards Fuji when Taichi appeared beside him.

"Daisuke-san, calm down. This is normal in a Quidditch game. People normally have broken bones instead of being knocked out, but still, there was no foul. Just focus on finding the Snitch." Taichi said before heading off to continue the game.

Fuji and a Suruberu Chaser then trapped Sora, making her hit an obelisk and fall down to the ground, rolling down the floor.

Daisuke had finally gotten sight of the Golden Snitch and just when he was about to chase it, his broom started acting strangely, zigzagging in the air, rolling and lurching, making him fall off, Daisuke only barely hanging on with one hand.

"Dunno what Daisuke thinks he's doing." Muchomon said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom…but he can't have…"

People all over the stand were pointing at Daisuke, gasping.

"Did something happen when Izana blocked him?" Samuso suggested.

"Can't have." Hengai said. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic-no kid could do that to a Nimbus 2000.

At these words, Miyako seized Hengai's binoculars, but instead of looking at Daisuke, looked frantically at the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Takeru asked.

"I knew it." Miyako gasped. "Sato-look."

Takeru grabbed the binoculars. Sato was in the stand opposite to theirs. He had his eyes fixated on Daisuke, muttering something nonstop.

"He's jinxing the broom." Miyako said.

"Jinxing the broom? What should we do?" Ken asked.

"Leave it to me." Miyako said as she disappeared before Ken could say another word.

The whole Goono team had tried to catch Daisuke, but each time they did, Daisuke's broom flew up higher and higher. The team was now under Daisuke, ready to get him in case he fell, unaware that Fuji had already scored five times without anyone noticing.

"Come on Miyako." Wormmon muttered desperately.

Miyako ran as fast as she could up the stairs under the stand where Sato stood. Finally, she arrived under the seats. Crouching down, she slowly walked towards Sato so no one would here her. Pulling out her wand, she pointed at the tip of Sato's coat.

"Lacarnum Inflamarae." Miyako whispered as blue flames shot out from her wand, making part of Sato's coat catch fire.

It took a few seconds for Sato to realize he was on fire, but a sudden yelp, followed by several teachers moving frantically, told Miyako she had done her job.

Meanwhile, with the jinx broken, Daisuke was able to get back on his broom and was now following Taro. As Daisuke caught up to him, he bumped him to the side, the Suruberu Seeker doing the same, followed by each other trying to bump the opponent off the course, before the Snitch started flying downwards. The Seekers flew down at incredible speed, getting closer and closer to the floor, until the Suruberu Seeker bailed out, to afraid to hit the floor and Daisuke, just centimeters before hitting the floor, pulled his broom back up along with extra force by standing on the end of the broom, now flying inches above the grass. He was very close to the Snitch, standing on his broom, his right hand extended. Daisuke stepped forward on the tip of his broom, making I drop the floor and Daisuke fall to the ground, before getting up and covering his mouth with both hands as if he were going to barf.

"Looks like he's gonna be sick." Hengai said.

Daisuke coughed and something gold fell into his hands.

"He caught the Snitch! Motomiya Daisuke receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!" Yoshi said.

"Goono wins!" Madam Inryo said after blowing her whistle.

A wave of cheers roared in Goono's stand as people screamed and celebrated their victory.

"Woohoo!" Miyako shouted as she clapped for Daisuke.

Daisuke smiled as he raised the Golden Snitch above his head and showed it to the rest of the team that started gathering around, applauding him while the crowded shouted "Go, Go, Goono!".

Daisuke suddenly turned around and dashed towards Yamato.

"Yamato-san…Yamato-san…" Daisuke said as he shook his Captain, who slowly started to awaken. "We won. We caught the Snitch." Daisuke said as he showed Yamato the golden ball in his hands.

"Way to go kid." Yamato said with a proud smirk before he fainted again.

(A while later)

The Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon were at the Hengai's hut. Hengai was making them some tea.

"It was Sato." Takeru was explaining. "Miyako-san, Ken-san, and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, cursing, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish." Said Hengai. "Why would Sato do something like that?"

The group looked at one another, wondering what to tell him. V-mon decided on the truth.

"I found out something about him." He said. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hengai dropped the teapot while Muchomon just looked at them in shock.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" Muchomon asked.

"_Fluffy?_" Patamon asked.

"That thing has a _name_?" Tailmon asked.

"Yeah, he's mine, bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub last year; lent him to Damaro to guard the…"

"Yes?" Daisuke asked eagerly.

"Shouldn't have told you that. Now, don't ask me anymore." Hengai said gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Sato and Impmon are trying to _steal_ it."

"Rubbish." Muchomon said. "Sato and Impmon're Butaibo teachers, they'd do nothing of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Daisuke-kun?" Hikari asked. The afternoon's events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Sato and Impmon. "I know jinxing when I see one Hengai-san, I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact, and Sato wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm telling ya, yer wrong!" Hengai said hotly. "I don't know why Daisuke's broomstick acted like that, but Sato wouldn't try and kill a student! Now listen to me, all six of ya. You're meddling in things that are not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, and you forget what it's guarding, that's between Damaro-sensei and Fuhii Naca-"

"Aha!" Said Daisuke. "So there's someone called Fuhii Naca involved, is there?"

"I/You shouldn't have said that." Hengai and Muchomon said, looking furious at himself/his partner.

* * *

I hope you liked the chapter. Review please.


	8. The Mirror of Erised

I do not own anything

* * *

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid December, Butaibo woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and Taichi and Yamato were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Kurata-sensei and Gottsumon around, bouncing off the back of Kurata's turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hengai and Muchomon before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Goono Common Room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all where Sato-sensei's classes down in the dungeons, where their breathes rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

"I do feel sorry" Koaku Ryu said in one Potions class "for all those people who have to stay at Butaibo for Christmas."

He was looking over at Daisuke as he spoke. Dracomon, Nisaka, Goiru, Candmon and Kunemon chuckled. Daisuke, who was measuring out powdered spine of lion-fish, ignored them. Koaku had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Suruberu's had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Daisuke as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Daisuke had managed to stay on the bucking broomstick. So Koaku, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Daisuke about having no proper family.

It was true that Daisuke wasn't going back to Odaiba for Christmas. He was only going back after and was staying only two days at Ken's house. He didn't feel sorry for himself, though. Takeru, Ken, Taichi, Koushiro, Jyou and Miyako's brothers had decided to stay behind to keep Daisuke and Jun some company.

When they left the dungeon at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hengai was behind it.

"Hi Hengai, want any help?" Ken asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ken."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Came Koaku's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you idiots trying to earn some extra money? Hoping to be Gamekeepers yourselves when you leave Butaibo I suppose."

Takeru dived at Koaku just as Sato and Impmon came up the stairs.

"TAKAISHI!"

Takeru let go of the front of Koaku's robes.

"He was provoked Sato-sensei." Hengai said, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Koaku was insulting them."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Butaibo's rules, Hengai." Sato said silkily. "5 points from Goono Takaishi, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Koaku, Dracomon, Nisaka, Candmon, Goiru, and Kunemon pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

"I'll get him." Takeru said, grinding his teeth at Koaku's back. "One of these days, I'll get him…"

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas." Muchomon said. "Tell ya what, come with me and see the Great Hall, it looks a treat."

So all of them followed Muchomon, Hengai, and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Nakamura-sensei, Renamon, Kurushin-sensei, and Mamemon were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hengai-san, Muchomon, the last tree. Put it in the far corner, would you?"

The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with a hundred candles.

"How many days you got left until your holidays?" Hengai asked.

"Just one." Said Tailmon. "And that reminds me: V-mon, Patamon, Daisuke, Takeru, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right." Patamon said, tearing his eyes away from Kurushin-sensei, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.

"The library?" Asked Hengai, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't ya?"

"Oh, we're not working." V-mon told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Fuhii Naca we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You _what?_" Hengai looked shocked. "Listen here. I've told you, drop it. It's nothing to you what the dog's guarding."

"We just want to know who Fuhii Naca is, that's all." Tailmon said.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" V-mon added. "We must've been through hundreds of books and we can't find him anywhere. Just give us a hint; I know I've read is name somewhere."

"I'm saying nothing." Hengai said flatly.

"Just have to find out ourselves then." Said Patamon, and they left Hengai and Muchomon looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

They had indeed been searching books for Fuhii's name ever since Hengai let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Sato and Impmon were trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Fuhii might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in "Great Wizards of the 21st Century", or "Notable Magical Names of Our Time", he was missing to from "Important Modern Magical Discoveries", and "A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry". And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books, thousands of shelves, hundreds of narrow rows.

Hikari and Tailmon took out a list of subjects they had decided to search for while Takeru and Patamon strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Daisuke and V-mon wondered over to the Restricted Section. They had been wondering for a while if Fuhii wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teacher to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Butaibo, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"What are you looking for boys?"

"Nothing." Said Daisuke.

Madam Piu the librarian brandished a feather duster and them.

'You better get out then. Go on-out!"

Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Daisuke and V-mon left the library. Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Piu where they could find Fuhii. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Sato and Impmon hearing what they were up to.

Daisuke and V-mon waited outside in the corridor, waiting to see if the other four had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons, it wasn't surprising they hadn't found anything at all. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Piu breathing down their necks.

5 minutes later, Takeru, Hikari, Patamon, and Tailmon joined them, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.

"You'll keep looking while we're away, won't you?" Said Hikari. "And send me an owl if you find anything."

"Sure. But we've looked a hundred times." Takeru replied.

"Not in the Restricted Section." Hikari said as she went off to the bathroom.

"I think we were a bad influence on her." Takeru told Daisuke, who nodded in agreement.

Once holidays started, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Ken, and Wormmon were having too good a time to think much about Fuhii. They had the Dormitory to themselves and the Common Room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs close by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toast fork: bread, muffins, marshmallows, and plotting ways of getting Koaku and Dracomon expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.

Takeru had also learned how to play wizard chess, and was starting to teach the others. It was exactly like chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle.

Daisuke's chessmen didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. They kept shouting "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send _him_, we can afford to lose _him_.".

On Christmas Eve, Daisuke went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun. When he and V-mon woke up early in the morning, due to Takeru, Ken, Wormmon, and Patamon's screaming, they immediately came running out of the Dormitory and onto the stairs.

"Merry Christmas Daisuke/Daisuke-san, V-mon." Takeru, Ken, Patamon, and Wormmon said.

"Merry Chirstmas." Daisuke and V-mon replied back.

"What are you guys wearing?" Daisuke asked.

Daisuke noticed that Ken was wearing a gray sweater with a yellow "K" on it and Takeru a green sweater with a yellow "T" in it.

"Miyako-san's mom made it. Looks like you got some too." Takeru said.

"I've got presents?" Daisuke said with an excited look in his eyes and quickly rushed the stairs accompanied by his partner.

Daisuke headed to the Christmas tree near the fire and took one of the three remaining packages while Takeru sat on the arm of a chair with Patamon on his head while eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hikari and Ken sat on a couch with Wormmon on his lap.

Daisuke's first present was a cyan sweater with a yellow "D" in it. He put it on and found it to be quite comforting and made a mental note to thank Miyako's mother for the present. He then opened the second package and saw it was a large box Chocolate Frog from Hikari. Lastly, Daisuke took a package that had a message written on the note.

"Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you."

Daisuke started at the note. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father?

Daisuke tore open the package and a silver, fluid material with gold lines and marks in it fell to the floor. Daisuke picked it up and felt it. It was very light and strange to touch, like water woven into material.

"What is it?" Ken asked.

"It's some kind of cloak." Daisuke replied.

"Well, let's see then. Put it on." Takeru said.

Daisuke wrapped the cloak around his body and suddenly, everyone's faces changed to that of awe. Daisuke, wondering why they were staring at him that way, looked down at himself and instead of seeing his body covered by the cloak, saw nothing.

"My body's gone!" Daisuke said.

"Whoa!" Takeru said, amazed. "I know what that is. It's an invisibility cloak."

"I'm invisible?" Daisuke said as he looked down at his invisible body.

"They're really rare. Wonder who gave it to you?" Takeru said.

"It had no name. Just said: "Use it well."." Daisuke replied.

Daisuke put the Cloak away and they all headed down to the Great Hall. As soon as they entered, they caught sight of Taichi, who was wearing a orange Inoue sweater with his initial in it, Agumon, Yamato, with a navy blue sweater with a "Y", and Gabumon.

"Merry Christmas." They said to the group who walked up to them.

Chizuru and Momoe came up to them also wearing blue Inoue sweaters with a "C" and a "M".

"Hey, look, you've gotten a Inoue sweater too!" Momoe said.

"Yours are better than ours, though." Chizuru said, analyzing them. "She obviously puts more effort if you're not family."

They all caught glimpse of Mantarou, who was trying to discretely pass by without being noticed. He wasn't wearing an Inoue sweater, and that's when Daisuke noticed the sweater lumped over Momoe's shoulder. The two sisters immediately grabbed Mantarou and tried to put the sweater on him.

"Get it on Mantarou, come on, we're all wearing ours." Chizuru said.

"I…don't…want…" Mantarou said as the girls forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew. "Besides, I hate maroon."

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either." Said Momoe. "Christmas is a time for family."

Daisuke had never had such a Christmas dinner in his life. A hundred turkeys, roast and boiled potatoes, platters of chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce. Up at the High Table, Damaro had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily along Hyokomon at a joke Kurushin-sensei told them.

It was during this that the idea flashed to Daisuke's mind. "Use it well.". He could use his father's Cloak to enter the Restricted Section. The whole of Butaibo was open to him with this Cloak. He could go anywhere with this, anywhere, and Fuki would never know. Excitement flooded through him.

Daisuke and everyone else spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire of their own respective common rooms. Daisuke had then lost yet again to Takeru in another wizard chess match.

When everyone else had already fallen asleep, Daisuke dressed himself in a royal blue sweater over his pajamas, grabbed a lantern and the Invisibility Cloak, woke up V-mon, and headed to the Restricted Section.

The library was dark, and only Daisuke's hand, which was carrying the lantern stuck out of the Cloak as he and V-mon silently walked into the Restricted Section and quietly pulled the locks and opened the doors. They looked at the several stands, searching for Fuhii.

Daisuke momentarily took off the Invisibility Cloak a he laid the lantern on the table and took a book. He soon came to regret his decision, as when he opened the book, it started screaming, startling Daisuke and making him accidentally knock the lantern onto the floor, before quickly closing as he heard footsteps and covering him and V-mon with the Cloak again.

"Whose there?" Came Fuki's grumpy voice from the hall. "I know you're in there. Show yourself."

Fuki started walking forward and Daisuke and V-mon stepped to the side to avoid bumping into them, making the caretaker pass by them, giving the two the chance to escape, walking desperately somewhere, anywhere, to avoid being caught, ending up in some hall.

*Meow*

Daisuke and V-mon flinched as they heard Ms. Dam, and turned to see her staring at them, but Fuki wasn't nearby, making them relax and head down the hall and turn around, only to see an interesting event going on. They saw Sato and Impmon press Kurata and Gottsumon against the wall.

"…don't know why you wanted to meet us here of all places, Savaro, Impmon…"

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private." Said Savaro, his voice icy.

"Have you found out how to get past Hengai's beast yet?" Sato and Impmon asked.

"Savaro/Impmon, I…" Kurata and Gottsumon said.

"You don't want me as your enemy Kurata/Gottsumon." Sato and Impmon said.

"I-I don't n-no what you…" Kurata and Gottsumon stuttered.

"I know perfectly well what we mean." Said Sato and Impmon.

Sato then felt a presence and looked to the side, making Daisuke and V-mon cover their mouths and quickly back a way as Savaro outstretched his arm and barely avoided taking the Cloak, grabbing thin air instead. He then looked at his hand before pointing to Kurata.

"We'll have another little chat soon. When you've had time to think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."

"Senseis." Fuki said as he arrived, carrying Daisuke's lantern. "I found this in the Restricted Section. It's still hot. Which means there's a student out of bed."

"The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them." Sato said as they headed down the hall while Daisuke and V-mon headed in the opposite direction and entered a room that resembled an unused, empty classroom.

The two finally took the Cloak off and searched the room, seeing a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_.

His panic was fading now that there was no sound of Fuki, Impmon, Sato, or Ms. Dam, Daisuke moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again. He stepped in front of it.

What he saw was himself, but there were three silhouettes behind him. Daisuke looked behind him but saw the room was empty except for V-mon and him. He looked at the mirror again and took another step forward, and this time, the silhouettes became clear.

The woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling and waving at him. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air. She and the other existed only in the mirror.

She was a very pretty woman. She had short red hair that resembled Sora's, and her eyes…

"_Her eyes are just like mine._" Daisuke thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Copper, exactly the same shape.

V-mon was now also walking towards the glass, wearing the same facial expression as he was, apparently seeing the same image Daisuke was.

The tall, sienna hair-colored man, not too muscular nor too thin standing next to the woman put his arm around her. He had untidy, smooth, straight, sienna hair with spikes at the end, the same color as Daisuke's. The girl, standing beside Daisuke had long, straight, flowing, bright chestnut hair with the same copper eyes as Daisuke and the woman.

Daisuke and V-mon were so close to the mirror now that their noses were nearly touching that of their reflections.

"Mom?" Daisuke whispered. "Dad?"

They, along with Jun, just stood looking at him, smiling. Kushito's, Daisuke's mother, eyes then slightly widened as she noticed Daisuke stretch out his hand and touch mirror, his hands pressed flat against the glass, half seeing, half hoping to fall right through it and join them. When he realized he couldn't, Kushito's reflection placed her hand on his shoulder. Her son instinctively placed his hand on his own shoulder, and when he felt the absence of the hand, looked back and remembered this was only a reflection. He and V-mon had a powerful kind of ache inside them, half joy, half terrible sadness.

A distant noise then brought them back to their senses. They couldn't stay there. They had to find a way back to their bed.

"We'll come back." They whispered as they hurried from the room.

(The next day)

"You could have woken us up." Wormmon said crossly.

"You can come tonight, we're going back, we want to show you the mirror."

"I'd like to see your mom and dad." Ken said eagerly.

Daisuke couldn't eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight. He had almost forgotten about Fuhii. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three-headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Sato and Impmon stole it, really?

(Later that day)

"You better now where you're going." Jun said as she, along with Daisuke, V-mon, Ken, Wormmon, Takeru, and Patamon slowly walked down the corridors. They barely all fitted in Cloak. It was a miracle that they fit with someone Jun's age.

"It's here, just here-yes!" Daisuke said.

They pushed the door open. Daisuke dropped the Cloak from around his and the others shoulders and ran together with V-mon to the mirror a.

There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of them.

"Oh my God. Mom, Dad." Jun said as she walked to the mirror and saw the reflections of her parents, her hands covering her mouth.

"See?" Daisuke whispered.

"I don't see anybody." Takeru said.

"Look! Look at them…" Daisuke said.

"I can only see you."

"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."

Daisuke stepped aside, but with Takeru and Patamon in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his parents anymore.

Takeru, though, was transfixed at his image.

"Look at me!" He said.

"Can you see them around you?"

"No. I'm with you guys, the Erabareshi Kodomo. And there's a really hot girl with us beside me. But I'm different-I look older; and I'm Head Boy!"

"**What?**" Daisuke, Jun, and V-mon said.

"I'm wearing the badge. And I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup. I'm Quidditch Captain, too! And Patamon, he's a Mega!"

Takeru tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Daisuke.

"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it? My family is dead. Let me have another look…"

"You had to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."

"You're only holding the Quidditch Cup. What's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."

"Don't push me-"

A sudden noise outside the corridor put a sudden end to the discussion. They hadn't realized how loudly they had been talking.

"Quick!" Takeru threw the Cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Ms. Dam came round the corner. They all stood quite still, thinking the same thing: Did the Cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.

"This isn't safe, she might have gone for Fuki, I bet she heard us. Come on." Ken said.

And they all left the room.

(The next day)

The snow still hadn't melted next morning.

"Want to play chess Daisuke?" Takeru asked.

"No."

"Why don't we go down and visit Hengai and Muchomon?"

"No…you go…"

"I know what you're thinking about Daisuke, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it-and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Fuki, Sato, Impmon, and Ms. Dam are all wondering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"

"You sound like Miyako and Hikari-chan."

"I'm serious Daisuke, don't go. Besides, we're going back to Odaiba tomorrow."

But Daisuke only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of that mirror, and Takeru wasn't going to stop him.

The third night, he and V-mon found their way more quickly than before. They were walking so fast they were making more noise than was wise, but they didn't meet anyone.

There were his mother and father smiling and them. Daisuke and V-mon sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop them from staying here all night with their family. Nothing at all. Except…

"So…back again Daisuke-kun, V-mon?"

Daisuke and V-mon had felt as though their insides had turned to ice. They looked behind them. Standing there were none other than Damaro Abura and Hyokomon. Daisuke and V-mon must have walked straight past them, so desperate to get to the mirror they hadn't noticed them.

"W-We didn't see you sir."

"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you." Damaro said, and Daisuke and V-mon were relieved to see that he was smiling.

"So" Hyokomon said. "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."

"We didn't know it was called that sir." V-mon answered.

"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?" Damaro asked.

"It, well, it shows me my family." Daisuke responded.

"And it shows your friend Takeru-kun himself as Head Boy."

"How did you know?"

"I don't need a cloak to become invisible." Damaro said gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

Daisuke and V-mon shook their heads.

"Let me give you a hint. The happiest man on Earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly like he is. Does that help?"

Daisuke and V-mon thought. Then Daisuke said slowly "It shows us what we want…whatever we want…"

"Yes and no." Hyokomon said quietly.

"It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have lost your family, see them standing around you. Takaishi Takeru, sees himself standing eternally with you, his friends, with his great love, successful in life, and being strong enough to protect all of you. However, this mirror will neither bring us knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, even gone mad, not knowing if what they saw was real or even possible."

"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow V-mon, Daisuke, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever _do_ across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable Cloak back on and get off to bed?"

Daisuke and V-mon stood up.

"Sir, Damaro-sensei? Can I ask you something?"

"Obviously, you've just done so." Damaro smiled. "You may ask me more than one thing, however."

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?" Daisuke asked.

"I? I see myself holding a pair thick, woolen socks."

Daisuke and V-mon stared.

"One can never have enough socks." Said Damaro. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."

It was only they were back in bed that it struck Daisuke and V-mon that Damaro might not have been quite truthful. But then, Daisuke thought as he shoved Scabbers of his pillow, it had been quite a personal question.

* * *

I hope you liked the chapter. Review please.


	9. Fuhii Naca

I do not own anything.

* * *

Damaro and Hyokomon had conviced Daisuke and V-mon to not go looking for the Mirror of Erised again, and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the Invisibility Cloak stayed folded at the bottom of Daisuke's trunk. Daisuke and V-mon wished they could forget what they'd seen in the mirror as easily, but they couldn't. They started having nightmares. Over and over again they dreamed about their parents disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high voice cackled with laughter.

"You see, Hyokomon and Damaro were right, that mirror could drive you mad." Said Patamon, when V-mon told him about these dreams.

Hikari and Tailmon, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. They were torn between horror at the idea of Daisuke and V-mon being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ("If Fuki had caught you…!") and disappointment that they hadn't at least found out who Fuhii Naca was.

They had almost given up hope of ever finding Fuhii in a library book, even though Daisuke was still sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once the term had started, they were back to skimming through books for 10 minutes during their break. Daisuke had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practice had started again.

Yamato was working the team harder than ever. Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. Taichi and Jun were complaining that Yamato was becoming a fanatic, but Daisuke was on Yamato's side. If they won their next match, against Chuhoru, they would overtake Suruberu in the House Championship for the first time in 7 years. Quite apart from wanting to win, Daisuke found out that he had fewer nightmares when he was tired out from training, along with the recent memories from the Armagemon Incident while he was at Ken's during the holidays.

Then, during one particular wet and muddy practice session, Yamato gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with Taichi and Jun, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.

"Will you two stop messing around!" He yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Sato's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Goono."

Taichi really did fall off his broom at these words.

"_Sato's_ refereeing?" He spluttered through a mouthful of mud. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Suruberu."

The rest of the team landed next to Taichi to complain too.

"It's not _my_ fault." Yamato said. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Sato hasn't got any excuse to pick on us."

Which was all very well, thought Daisuke, but he had another reason for not wanting Sato near him while he was playing Quidditch…

The rest of the team hung back to talk to one another as usual at the end of practice, but Daisuke and V-mon headed straight back to the Goono Common Room, where he found Hikari and Takeru playing chess. Chess was some of the few things Hikari lost at, which Daisuke and Takeru thought was very good for her.

"Don't talk to me for a moment." Takeru said when Daisuke sat down next to him. "Need to concen-" He caught sight of Daisuke's and V-mon's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible."

Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Daisuke told all of them about Sato's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.

"Don't play." Said Tailmon at once.

"Say you're ill." Said Patamon.

"Pretend to break your leg." Hikari suggested.

"**Really** break your leg." Takeru said.

"All of what they said." Wormmon said.

"All of what they said and more." Ken said.

"I can't." Said Daisuke. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Goono won't be able to play."

Daisuke felt his pocket and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hikari had given him from Christmas.

"I'll go to bed…" Ken said as he and Wormmon headed upstairs.

As they walked away, Daisuke looked at the Famous Wizard Card.

"Damaro again." He said. "He was the very first one I ever-"

He gasped. He started at the back of the card. Then he looked at Takeru, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon.

"**I found him!**" He whispered. "I found Fuhii! I _told_ you I read his name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here-listen to this: "Damaro is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Graida in 1956, for the discovery of the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, _and his work in alchemy with his partner, Fuhii Naca_!"

Hikari jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since she first boarded the train to Butaibo.

"Stay here!" She said, and she exited the protait and sprinted down the stairs. Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Tailmon, and Patamon exchanged mystified looks before she dashed back, an enormous old book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here!" She whispered excitedly. "Miyako-san got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"She calls this _light_?" Takeru said, earning him a glare from Hikari which told him to stay quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.

At last she found what she was looking for.

"I knew it! I _knew_ it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" Takeru said grumpily. Hikari ignored him.

"Fuhii Naca," She whispered dramatically "is the _only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone_!"

They didn't have quite the effect she expected.

"The what?" The boys all asked simultaneously.

"Oh honestly, don't you two read? Look, read that, there."

She pushed the book towards them, and they all read:

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with the making of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will turn any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which makes the drinker immortal.

There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Fuhii Naca, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Fuhii-san, who celebrated his 665th birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Yubari, Sorachi, with his wife, Pearl (658)."

"See." Said Hikari when they had finished reading. "The dog must be guarding Fuhii's Philospher's Stone! I bet he asked Damaro to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Mahginko!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops anyone from ever dying!" Said Daisuke. "No wonder Sato and Impmon are after it! _Anyone_ would want it!"

"And no wonder we couldn't find Fuhii in that "Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry"." Takeru said. "He's not exactly recent if he's a 165, is he?"

"665." Tailmon corrected.

"Whatever."

(The next day)

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, while copying down different ways of treating werewolf bites, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon were still discussing what they'd do if they had a Philosopher's Stone. It wasn't until Takeru said he'd buy his own Quidditch team that Daisuke remembered about Sato and the coming match.

"I'm going to play." He told V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Tailmon, and Hkari. "If I don't, all the Suruberus will think I'm just too scared to face Sato. I'll show them…it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win."

"Just as long as we're not wiping you off the field." Hikari said.

As the match drew nearer, however, Daisuke became more and more nervous, which he told the others. The team wasn't to calm, either. The idea of overtaking Suruberu in the House Championship was wonderful, no one had done it in 7 years, but would they be allowed to, with such a biased referee?

Daisuke and V-mon didn't know whether they were imagining it a lot, but they seemed to keep running into Sato and Impmon wherever they went. At times, they even wondered whether Sato and Impmon were following them, trying to catch them on their own. Potions lessons were turning to a sort of weekly torture, Sato was so horrible to Daisuke. Could Sato and Impmon possibly know they'd found out about the Philosopher's Stone? Daisuke didn't see how they could, yet sometimes he had the horrible feeling Sato could read minds.

Daisuke knew, when they'd wished him good luck outside the locker room, that Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, Tailmon, and V-mon were wondering whether they'd ever see him alive again. This wasn't what you'd call comforting. Daisuke hardly heard a word of Yamato's pep talk as he pulled on his Quidditch robes and picked up his Nimbus 2000.

Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon, meanwhile, had found a good place in the stands next to Ken, Miyako, Hawkmon, and Wormmon, who couldn't understand why they looked so worry. Ken told them that Daisuke was a die-hard person, and it would take more than a simple jinx to kill him.

Little did Daisuke know that Hikari and Takeru had brought their wands with them. They had been secretly practicing the Leg-Locker Curse, and were ready to use it on Sato if he showed an sign of wanting to use it on Daisuke.

"Now, don't forget, it's "Locomoter Mortis"." Hikari muttered as Takeru slipped his wand up his sleeve.

"I know." Takeru said.

Back in the locker room, Yamato had taken Daisuke aside.

"Don't want to pressure you, Daisuke-san, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Sato can favor Chuhoru too much."

"The whole school's out there." Said Taichi. "Even-blimey-even Damaro and Hyokomon've come to watch."

Daisuke's heart did a somersault.

"_Damaro and Hyokomon?_" He said, dashing to the flag to make sure he was right. Taichi was right. There was no mistaking that silver beard and the little chick.

Daisuke could laugh out loud with relief. He was safe. There was simply no way Sato would dare try to hurt him if Damaro was watching.

Perhaps that's why Sato was looking so angry as the teams flew into the field, something that Takeru noticed too.

"I've never seen Sato look so mean." He told Hikari. "Look-they're off. Ouch!"

Something had poked Takeru in the back of the head. It was Koaku.

"Oh, sorry, Takaishi, didn't see you there."

Koaku grinned broadly at Nisaka and Goiru.

"Wonder how long Motomiya's going to stay on his broomstick this time? Anyone want to bet? What about you Takaishi?"

"I have an even better bet. Let's bet when you're going to enter the Quidditch team in your 1st year? Oh yeah, that's right, never." Takeru said.

Koaku turned bright red with rage at the comment. Takeru then turned his attention back to the game. Sato had just awarded Chuhoru a pentaly because Taichi had hit a Bludger at him. Miyako, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting fixedly at Daisuke, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch.

"You know how I think they choose the people for the Goono team?" Said Koaku a few minutes later, as Sato awarded Chuhoru another penalty for no reason at all. "It by the people they feels sorry for because they're so pathetic. You see, there's Motomiya and his sister, who've got no parents, then there's your brother and Yagami, because you guys weren't raised in the Wizarding world, know nothing about the it, and are pathetic."

"And yet we still manage to beat you Suruberus." Patamon said.

"Thank you for saving me the time of talking with this idiot." Takeru thanked his partner.

Koaku turned even brighter at this comment, and Dracomon huffed with an angry look in his eyes.

"Ichijouji, I guess you're the only person who's more pathetic than Takaishi." Koaku said in another attempt to humiliate one of them.

"What, got tired of getting owned by Takeru-san and Patamon so came picking on someone else?" Ken said.

Koaku just kept getting redder and redder at each comment was now really angry.

"Says the guy who never lived up to the shadow of his brother." Koaku said, nearly making Ken attack him, but was able to keep a bit of self-control. "And at least my parents aren't divorced." He said, this time looking at Takeru.

Takeru nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety about Daisuke.

"I'm warning you Koaku-one more word-"

"Takeru-kun, Ken-san!" Hikari said suddenly. "Daisuke-kun-!"

"What? Where?"

Daisuke had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew many gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hikari and Miyako stood up, their finger crossed in their mouths, as Daisuke streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck Takaishi, Motomiya's obviously spotted something on the ground! Hope it's something to replace that ridiculous hat of yours!" Koaku said.

Did he just insult Takaishi Takeru's hat? Oh hell no.

Takeru snapped. Before Koaku knew what was happening, Takeru was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Patamon, Ken, and Wormmon joined the fight.

"Come on Daisuke!" Miyako screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Daisuke sped straight at Sato. She, along with V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon were so concentrated on the game that they didn't even notice Koaku, Dracomon, Takeru, and Patamon rolling around under their seats, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that were, Ken, Wormmon, Nisaka, Candmon, Goiru, and Kunemon.

Up in the air, Sato turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches. The next second, Daisuke had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.

The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly.

"Takeru-kun, Ken-san, Patamon, Wormmon! Where are you? The game's over! Daisuke-kun's won! We've won! Goono is in the lead!" Shrieked Hikari, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Ruika Rin in the front row.

Daisuke jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground. He couldn't believe it. He'd done it-the game was over; it had barely lasted 5 minutes. As Goonos came spilling onto the field, he saw Sato and Impmon land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped. Then Daisuke felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Damaro's smiling face.

"Well done." Damaro said quietly, so that only Daisuke could hear him. "Nice to see you haven't been brooding about the mirror…been keeping busy…excellent…"

Sato and Impmon spat bitterly on the ground.

Daisuke left the locker room alone sometime later, to take his Nimbus 2000 back to the broomshed. He couldn't remember feeling happier. He'd really done something to be proud of just now. Nobody could just say he was a famous name anymore. The evening air had never smelled so sweet. He walked over the damp grass, reliving the last hour in his head, which was a happy blur: Goonos running to lift him onto their shoulders, everyone in the distance, jumping up and down, Takeru cheering through a heavy nosebleed.

Daisuke reached the shed. He leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Butaibo, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. Goono in the lead. He'd done it, he'd shown Sato…

And speaking Sato…

Two hooded figure, one the size of a small Digimon, came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, they walked as quickly as possible towards the Forbidden Forest. Daisuke's victory faded from his mind as he watched. He recognized the figure's prowling walk. Sato, sneaking into the forest while everyone was at dinner. What was going on? Daisuke decided to go to the Great Hall to talk to his friends.

"Daisuke-san, where've you _been_?" Sora squeaked.

"We won! You won! We won!" Shouted Takeru, thumping Daisuke on the back. "And I gave Koaku a black eye, and Patamon, Ken-san, and Wormmon tried to take on Dracomon, Nisaka, Goiru, Candmon, and Kunemon single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Nopshu says he'll be alright-talking about showing Suruberu! Everyone's waiting for you in the Common Room, we're having a party, Taichi and Yamato stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."

"Never mind that now." Daisuke said breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, wait until you hear this."

He made sure Jojo wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, and told them what he'd seen just recently and on the day he saw them with Kurata-sensei and Impmon.

"Wonder what they went to do. Sato and Impmon asked if they knew how to get past Fluffy and there must be other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy-loads of enchantments, probably, and Kurata would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Sato and Impmon need to break through."

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Kurata and Gottsumon stand up to Sato and Impmon?" Hikari said alarmed.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." Takeru said.

* * *

Well, hope you liked the chapter. Review please. And thank you those who already reviewed.


	10. Nagato the Norwegian Ridgeback

I do not own anything.

* * *

Kurata and Gottsumon, however, must have been braver than they thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler thinner, but it didn't look like he'd cracked yet.

Every time they'd pass the third-floor corridor, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Sato and Impmon were sweeping about in their usual bad temper, which meant that the Stone was still safe. Whenever Daisuke and V-mon passed Kurata and Gottsumon these days, they'd give them an encouraging sort of smile, and Takeru and Patamon had started telling people off for laughing at Kurata's stutter.

Hikari, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone. She had started making up a study schedule. Daisuke and Takeru wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Hikari-chan, the exams are ages away." Daisuke said.

"10 weeks." Hikari replied. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Fuhii Naca."

"But we're not 600 years old." Takeru reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the 2nd year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"

"Hikari-chan, relax, you're getting too concerned with your studies." Daisuke said.

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hikari. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hikari next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood and practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this." Takeru bursted out one afternoon, throwing down his pen and looking longingly out the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Daisuke, who was looking up "Dittany" in "1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi", didn't look up until he heard Takeru say "Hengai-san! What are you doing in the library"?

Hengai shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Just looking." He said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "And what are you lot up to?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still looking for Fuhii Naca, are yeh?"

"We found who he is ages ago." Takeru said impressively. "_And_ we know what the dog's guarding, a Philosopher St-"

"_Shhhh_!" Hengai looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don't go shouting about it, what's the matter with you?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you as a matter of fact." Said Daisuke "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"

"SHHHHHHH!" Hengai said. "Listen, come and see me later. I'm not promising I'll tell ya, but don't go rabbiting about it in here, students aren't supposed to know. They'll think I've told you-"

"See you later, then." V-mon said.

Hengai shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" Tailmon said thoughtfully.

"I'm going to see what section he was in." Said Patamon. He came back a minute later. "**Dragons!** Hengai was looking up stuff about dragons!" He whispered.

"Hengai's always wanted a dragon, Jun said he told her so the first time she ever met him." Daisuke said.

"But it's against our laws." Takeru said. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden-anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns my uncle Tatsuya's got off wild ones in Romania."

Everyone just looked at him strangely, wondering how he knew that.

"My uncle." Takeru simply responded.

"But there aren't any wild dragons in **Japan**?" Daisuke asked.

"Well, no, but there is the Chinese Fireball. Our kind has to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hengai-san up to?" Tailmon asked.

When they knocked on the door of the Gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hengai asked "Who is there?" before letting them in and then quickly shutting the door behind them.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hengai made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So, yeh wanted to ask me something?" Hengai asked as he sat beside Muchomon.

"Yes." Daisuke said. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hengai and Muchomon frowned.

"Of course I can't." He said. "Number one, we don't know ourselves. Number two, you know too much already, so we wouldn't tell ya if we could. That Stone's here for a reason. It was almost stolen outta Mahginko-we suppose you've worked that out and all? Beats us how you even know about Fluffy."

"Oh, come on Hengai-san, you might not want to tell us, but you _do_, you know everything that goes on around here." Said Hikari in a warm, flattering, adorable voice that could make anyone break. Hengai's beard twitched and you could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had _done_ the guarding, really. We wondered who Damaro and Hyokomon had trusted to help him, apart from you."

Hengai's chest swelled at these last words. Daisuke and Takeru beamed at Hikari.

"Well, I don't suppose it could hurt to tell you that…let's see…he borrowed Fluffy from me…then some of the teachers did enchantments…Moyashi-sensei, Kurushin-sensei, Nakamura-sensei," He ticked them off his finger "Kurata-sensei, and Damaro-sensei himself did something, of course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Sato-sensei."

"**Sato?**"

"Yeah, yer not still about that, are ya? Look, Sato helped _protect_ the Stone, he's not about to steal it."

Daisuke and V-mon knew that Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon were thinking the same as they were. If Sato had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything-except, it seemed, Kurata's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hengai, Muchomon?" V-mon said anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except us and Damaro and Hyokomon." Hengai said proudly.

"Well, that's something." V-mon muttered to the others. "Hengai, can we have a window open? I'm, boiling."

"Can't V-mon, sorry." Hengai said. He glanced along with his partner at the fire. Daisuke and V-mon looked too.

"Hengai…what's that?"

But they already knew what it was. At the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah," Said Hengai, fiddling with his beard "that's a, uh…"

"Where did you get it Hengai-san?" Takeru asked, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at it. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it." Hengai said. "Last night. I was down in the village having a few drinks and got into a game of cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad to be rid of it, to be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Tailmon said.

"Well, I've been doing some reading." Hengai said. "Got this out of the library, "Dragon Breading for Pleasure and Profit", it's a bit outta date, of course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, cause their mothers breath on them, see, when it hatches, feed it on a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour."

"And see here." Muchomon said. "How to recognize different eggs. What I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

They looked very pleased with themselves, but Hikari and Tailmon didn't.

"Hengai-san, Muchomon, you live in a _wooden house_." They said.

But Hengai and Muchomon weren't listening. They were humming merrily as they stroked the fire.

So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hengai and Muchomon if anyone found out they were hiding an illegal dragon in their hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life?" Takeru sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hikari had been nice enough to bother and make study schedules for Daisuke and Takeru, and, although they were grateful, it was driving them nuts.

Then, one breakfast time, Yushiba had brought Daisuke another note from Hengai. They had written only two words: "It's hatching."

Takeru and Patamon wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down the hut, but Hikari wouldn't hear any of it.

"Hikari-chan, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Takeru said.

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Henga-san and Muchomon're gonna be in when somebody finds out what they're doing-"

"Shut up!" Daisuke whispered.

Koaku and Dracomon were only a few feet away and had stopped dead to listen. How much had they heard? Daisuke and V-mon didn't like the look on Koaku and Dracomon's faces at all.

Takeru and Hikari argued all the way down to Herbology and, in the end, Hikari agreed to run down to Hengai and Muchomon's with the other four during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru dropped their trowels at once and they, plus their partners, hurried through the ground to the edge of the forest. Hengai and Muchomon greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." Hengai ushered the inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside, a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a cracking noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Daisuke and V-mon thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging orange eyes.

It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its mouth.

"Isn't he _beautiful_?" Hengai murmured. He reached out a hand to stoke the dragons head. It snapped at his fingers, showing its fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hengai said.

"Hengai-san, how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow exactly?" Hikari asked.

Muchomon was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from Hengai's face-he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was looking through the gap in the curtains-it's a kid-he's running back up to the school!"

Daisuke and V-mon bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking them.

Koaku and Dracomon had seen the dragon.

Something about the smile lurking on Koaku and Dracomon's face the next week made Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon. They spent most of their free time in Hengai and Muchomon's darkened hut, trying to reason with them.

"Just let him go." V-mon urged. "Set him free."

"I can't." Said Muchomon. "He's too little. He'd die."

They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept curling out of its nostrils. Hengai and Muchomon hadn't been doing their Gamekeping duties because the dragon had been keeping them so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Nagato." Said Hengai, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Nagato! Nagato! Where's Mommy?"

"He's lost it." Takeru muttered in Daisuke's ear.

"Hengai-san, Muchomon, give it two weeks and Nagatos's going to be as long as your house. Koaku and Dracomon could go to Damaro at any moment."

Hengai and Muchomon but their lips.

"I-I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't just dump him, I can't." Muchomon said.

Daisuke suddenly turned to Takeru.

"Tatsuya." Daisuke said.

"You're losing it too." Takeru said. "I'm Takeru, remember?"

"No-Tatsuya-your uncle, Tatsuya. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Nagato to him. Tatsuya can take care of him and put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant! How about it Hengai-san, Muchomon?" Takeru asked.

In the end, Hengai agreed that they could send an owl to Tatsuya to ask him.

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon sitting alone in the Common Room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Takeru and Patamon appeared out of nowhere as they pulled off Daisuke's Invisibility Cloak. They had been down at Hengai and Muchomon's hut, helping them feed Nagato, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"It bit me!" Takeru said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a pen for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most terrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hengai-san and Muchomon go on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me they told me off for frightening it. And when I left, Hengai-san was singing it a lullaby."

There was a tap on the dark window.

"It's Yushiba." Daisuke said, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Tatsuya's answer!"

The six of them put their heads together to read the note.

"Dear Takeru,

How are you? Thanks for the letter-I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Throuble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Tatsuya"

"We've got the Invisibility Cloak." Daisuke said. "It shouldn't be too difficult. I think the Cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Nagato."

There was a hitch. By the next morning, Takeru's hand had swollen to twice its usual size. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Nagato's fangs were poisonous.

One night, on Friday evening, Koaku sneaked into the Hospital Wing and took away one of Takeru's books. He had just sneaked in to get a good laugh out of Takeru, but took the book as a set up for a reason to pass by, and Takeru was forced to stay quiet or else Kaoku would tell Madam Nopshu. Unfortunately, the envelope containing the answer to Tatsuya was inside the book, meaning that Koaku knew about the plan to get rid of Nagato, so they had to dispatch Nagato tonight.

Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon went to Hengai's hut that night. Nagato was put into a crate and handed to them by Muchomon.

"Bye-bye, Nagato!" Hengai and Muchomon sobbed, as Daisuke and Hikari covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak and then stepped under it themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"

The highest tower in the castle was Damaro and Hyokomon's office, so they had to go to the second largest, the Astronomy Tower. How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Nagato up the marble staircase in the entrance hall along the dark corridors.

Up another staircase, then another-even one of Daisuke's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.

"Nearly there!" Daisuke panted as they reached the corridor beneath the second tallest tower.

A lamp flared. While walking through the corridors, they passed by Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, WhitePawnChessmon, Koaku, and Dracomon, the Goono House Head pulling Koaku by the ear.

"Detention!" She shouted. "And 20 points from Suruberu! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how **dare** you-"

"You don't understand sensei. Motomiya Daisuke's coming-he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come one-I shall see Sato-sensei about you, Koaku!"

The group climbed the spiral staircase up to the Astronomy Tower, before throwing the Cloak of, glad to be able to breath properly again.

"Dracomon and Koaku's got detention! I could sing!" Tailmon said.

"Don't." V-mon advised her.

They waited about 10 minutes before four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Tatsuya's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Daisuke, Hikari, Tailmon, and V-mon the harness they'd rigged up so they could suspend Nagato between them. They all helped buckle Nagato safely into it and then Daisuke, Hikari, V-mon, and Tailmon shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.

At last, Nagato was going…going…_gone_.

They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Nagato was off them. No more dragon-Koaku and Dracomon got detention-what could spoil their happiness.

The answer was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Fuki's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well, well, well." He whispered. "We a_re_ in trouble."

They had left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower.

* * *

I hope you liked the chapter. Thank you to reviewers ssss, HPfan, J, and Mar the Fox. And please, continue to review.


	11. The Forbidden Forest

I do not own anything.

* * *

Things couldn't have been worse.

Fuki took them down took them down to Nakamura, BlackPawnChessmon, and WhitePawnChessmon's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hikari was trembling. Excuses, alibis, and wild cover-ups chased each other around in Daisuke's brain, each more feeble than the last. He couldn't see how they were going to get out of trouble this time. They were cornered. How could they have been so stupid to forget the Cloak? There was no reason on Earth that Nakamura-sensei or WhitePawnChessmon or BlackPawnChessmon would accept their being out of bed and creeping around the school in the dead of night, let alone being up in the Astronomy Tower, which was out-of-bounds except for classes. Add Nagato and the Invisibility Cloak, and they might as well be packing their bags already.

Had Daisuke thought that things couldn't have been worse? He was wrong. When Nakamura-sensei, WhitePawnChessmon, and BlackPawnChessmon appeared, they were leading Ken and Wormmon.

"Daisuke-san!" Ken burst out the moment he saw the other four. "I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Koaku saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag-"

Daisuke shook his head violently to shut Ken up, but Nakamura-sensei, WhitePawnChessmon, and BlackPawnChessmon had seen. They looked more likely to breathe fire than Nagato as she towered over the six of them.

"I would never have believed any of you. Fuki-san says you were up in the Astronomy Tower. It's 1 o'clock in the morning. _Explain yourselves_."

It was the first time Hikari had ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her shoes.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on." BlackPawnChessmon said. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Koaku Ryu and Dracomon some cock-and-bull story, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught them. I suppose you think it's funny that Ichijouji and Wormmon here heard the story and believed it too?"

Daisuke and V-mon caught Ken's and Wormmon's eye and tried to tell them without words that it wasn't true, but Ken and Wormmon already knew that wasn't true.

"I'm disgusted." Said Nakamura-sensei. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Yagami-san and Tailmon, I thought you had more sense. As for you Motomiya-san and V-mon, I thought Goono meant more to you than this. All six of you will receive detention-yes, you too Ichijouji-san and Wormmon, **nothing** gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially at night, it's very dangerous-and 50 points will be taken from Goono.

"_**50**_?" Daisuke and V-mon gasped. They would lose the lead, the lead he'd won in the last Quidditch match.

"50 points _each_." Nakamura-sensei said, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.

"Sensei, please-"

"You _can't_-"

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do Motomiya. Now go to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Goono students."

A 150 points lost. That put Goono in last place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Goono had for the House Cup. Daisuke and V-mon felt as though the bottom had dropped out oof their stomachs. How could they ever make up for this?

Daisuke and V-mon didn't sleep all night. What would happen when the other Goonos found out what happened?

At first, Goonos passing the giant hourglasses recording the house points the next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have 150 points fewer than yesterday? And then the story started to spread: Motomiya Daisuke, the famous Motomiya Daisuke, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.

From being one of the most popular and admired people in school, Daisuke was suddenly the most hated. Even Hikomeinas and Chuhorus turned on him, because everyone had been longing to see Suruberu lose the House Cup. Everywhere Daisuke went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. Suruberus, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering "Thanks Motomiya, we you one!"

Only Takeru stood by him.

"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Taichi and Yamato have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them." He said.

"They've never lost 150 points in one go, though, have they?" Daisuke said miserably.

"Well, no." Takeru admitted.

It was a bit too late to repair the damage, but Daisuke and V-mon swore to themselves not to meddle in things that weren't their business from now on. They had it with sneaking around and spying. Daisuke felt so ashamed of himself that he went to Yamato and offered to resign from the Quidditch team.

"_Resign_?" Yamato thundered. "What good'll that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?"

But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team, with an exception of Yamato, Jun, Taichi, and Sora wouldn't speak to Daisuke during practice, and if they had to speak about him, they called him "the Seeker".

Hikari, Ken, Tailmon, and Wormmon were suffering too. They didn't have as bad a time as Daisuke and V-mon, because they weren't as well known, but nobody would speak to them either. Hikari had stopped drawing attention in class, keeping her head down and working in silence.

Daisuke was almost glad the exams weren't far away. All the studying he had to do kept his mind off the misery. He, Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients of complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions…

Then, about a week before the exams were due to start, Daisuke's and V-mon's new resolution not to interfere in anything that didn't concern them was put to an unexpected test. Walking back from the library on their own one afternoon, they heard somebody whimpering from the classroom up ahead. As they drew closer, they heard Kurata's voice.

"No-no-not again, please-"

It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Daisuke and V-mon moved closer.

"All right-all right-" He heard Kurata sob.

Next second, Kurata and Gottsumon came hurrying out of the classroom, Kurata straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. They strode out of sight. Daisuke and V-mon didn't think Kurata or Gottsumon had even noticed them. They waited until Kurata's and Gottsumon's footsteps had disappeared and then peered inside the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Daisuke and V-mon were halfway towards it before they remembered they had promised themselves no more meddling.

All the same, they'd have gambled twelve Philosopher's Stones that Sato and Impmon had just left the room, and from what Daisuke and V-mon had just heard, Sato and Impmon would be walking with a new spring in their step-Kurata seemed to have given in at last.

Daisuke and V-mon went back to the library, where Hikari was testing Takeru on Astronomy. Daisuke told them what he'd heard.

"Sato's done it, then! If Kurata told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell-" Takeru said.

"There's still Fluffy though." Hikari said.

"Maybe Sato's found out how to get past him without asking Hengai-san or Muchomon." Takeru said, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do Daisuke?"

The light of adventure was kindling again in Takeru's and Patamon's eyes, but Tailmon answered before Daisuke could.

"Go to Damaro and Hyokomon. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no _proof_!" V-mon said. "Kurata and Gottsumon're too scared to back us up. Sato and Impmon only got to say they don't know how the troll got in on Halloween and that they were nowhere near the third floor-who do you think they'll believe in, them or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate them, Hyokomon and Damaro'll think we made it up to get them sacked. Fuki wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Impmon, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

Tailmon and Hikari looked convinced, but Patamon and Takeru didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around-" Patamon said.

"No." V-mon said flatly. "We've done enough poking around."

Daisuke pulled a map of Jupiter towards him and started learning all its names.

(The next day)

The following morning, notes were delivered to Daisuke, Hikari, and Ken at the breakfast table. They were all the same:

Your detention will take place at 11 o'clock tonight. Meet Fuki-san at the Entrance Hall.

Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, & WhitePawnChessmon"

Daisuke had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furor over the points they'd lost. He half expected Hikari to complain that this was a whole night of studying lost, but she didn't say a word. Like Daisuke, she felt they deserved what they'd got.

At 11 o'clock that night, they said goodbye to Takeru and Patamon in the common room and went down to the Entrance Hall with Ken and Wormmon. Fuki was there, and so was Koaku and Dracomon. Daisuke had also forgotten that Koaku had gotten detention too.

"Follow me." Fuki said, lighting a lamp and leading them outside. "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh? Oh yes…hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me…It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out…hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed…Right of we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do." He leered.

They marched off across the dark grounds. Daisuke and V-mon wondered what their punishments were going to be. It must be something really horrible, or Fuki wouldn't be sounding so delighted.

The moon was bright, but the clouds scudding across it kept scudding them into the darkness. Ahead, Daisuke and V-mon could see the lighted window of Hengai and Muchomon's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

"Is that you Fuki? Hurry up, I'm want to get started!"

Daisuke and V-mon's hearts rose, if they were going to be working with Hengai and Muchomon, it wouldn't be so bad. Their relief must have showed in their faces, because Fuki said "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourselves with that oaf. Well, think again boys; it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you all come back in one piece."

At this, Koaku and Dracomon stopped dead in their tracks.

"The forest?" Koaku repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night-there's all sort of things there-werewolves, I heard."

Ken clutched the sleeve of Daisuke's robe and made a choking noise.

"That's your problem, isn't it?" Fuki said, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hengai came striding towards them out of the dark, Muchomon and Kiba at his heel. He was carrying a large crossbow, and a quiver of bows hung over his shoulder.

"About time." He said. "I've been waiting for half and hour already. All right Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, Tailmon, Ken, Wormmon?"

"You shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hengai." Fuki said coldly. "They're here to be punished after all."

"Is that why yer late?" Said Muchomon, frowning at Fuki. "Been lecturing the, eh? It's not your place to do that. You've don your bit. I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn" Said Fuki "For what's left of them." He added nastily as he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Koaku now turned to Hengai.

"I'm not going in that forest." He said, and Daisuke and V-mon were pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

"Yer are if you want to stay at Butaibo." Hengai said fiercly. "Yeh've done wrong and now you've got to pay for it."

"But this is servant stuff. It's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd-"

"-tell ya it's how it is at Butaibo." Hengai growled. "Copying lines! What good's that to anyone? You'll do something useful or you'll get out. If you think your father'd rather you were expelled, then back off to the castle. Go on!"

Koaku didn't move. He looked at Hengai furiously but then dropped his gaze.

"Right then." Hengai said. "Now listen carefully, cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, and I don't want no one taking risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He lead them to the very edge of the forest, holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick lack trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

"Look there." Said Hengai. "See that stuff shining on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there and it's been hurt badly by someone. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try and find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Dracomon asked, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"There's nothing that lives in the forest that'll be able to hurt ya if you're with me, Muchomon, or Kiba. And keep to the path. Right now, we're gonna split into two parties and follow the trail in different directions. There's blood all over the place, it must have been staggering around since last nigh at least."

"I want Kiba." Koaku said, quickly looking at Kiba's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn ya, he's a coward." Hengai said. "So me, Muchomon, Hikari, Tailmon, Ken, and Wormmon'll go one way, and Kiba, Daisuke, V-mon, and these idiots. I'm sorry." Hengai added.

There was a sudden noise behind a bush.

"GET BEHIND THAT TREE!" Hengai said as pushed the other back and he aimed his crossbow while Muchomon got into fighting position.

All of them listened. Something was slithering over the dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hengai and Muchomon were squinting up the dark paths, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.

"I knew." Muchomon said. "There's something in here that shouldn't be."

"A werewolf." V-mon suggested.

"That wasn't no werewolf and it was no unicorn neither." Hengai said grimly.

There was another sound.

"Who's there?" Hengai called. "Show yourself-I'm armed!"

And into the clearing came-was it a man or a horse? To the waist, a man, with blond hair and a beard, but bellow was a horse's gleaming blond body with a long, blond tail. Daisuke's, Ken's, Hikari's, V-mon's, Tailmon's, and Wormmon's jaws dropped.

"Oh, it's you Kona." Hengai said in relief. "How are yeh?"

He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.

"Good evening to you too Hengai-kun, Muchomon." Said Kona. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?"

"Can't be too careful." Said Hengai, patting his crossbow. "There's something bad loose in this forest. These are Motomiya Daisuke, Yagami Hikari, Ichijouji Ken, Koaku Ryu, V-mon, Tailmon, Wormmon, and Dracomon by the way. Students up at the school. At this is Kona, you all. He's a centaur."

"We noticed." Hikari said.

"Good evening. Students are you? And do you learn much up at the school?" Kona asked.

"Erm-"

"A bit." Hikari said timidly.

"A bit. Well, that's something." Kona sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."

"Yeah." Muchomon said, glancing up too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run into you Kona, cause there's a unicorn that's been hurt-you've seen anything?"

Kona didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again.

"Always the innocents are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now." Kona said.

"Yeah. But have you seen anything Kona? Anything unusual?" Hengai asked.

"Mars is bright tonight. Unusually bright." Kona repeated while Hengai and Muchomon watched him impatiently.

"Yeah, but I was thinking something unusual a bit nearer home. So, you haven't noticed anything strange?" Hengai asked.

Yet again, Kona took a while to answer. At last, he said "The forest hides many secrets.".

A movement in the trees behind Kona made Hengai raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, this one was black-haired and bodied and wilder-looking than Kona.

"Hello Hametsu. All right?" Muchomon said.

"Good evening Muchomon, Hengai-kun. I hope you are well?"

"Good enough. Look, we've just been asking Kona, you seen anything odd in here lately? There's a unicorn that's been injured-would you know anything about it?" Muchomon asked.

Hametsu walked over to stand next to Kona. He looked skyward.

"Mars is bright tonight." He said simply.

"We've heard." Hengai said grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anything, let me know, won't ya? We'll be off then."

The students followed him out of the clearing, staring over their shoulders at Kona and Hametsu until the trees blocked their views.

"Never try and get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anything closer than the moon." Hengai said irritated.

"Are them many of _them_ in here?" Tailmon asked.

"Oh, a fair few, along with Sagittarimons…Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turning up if I ever want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs…they know things…just don't let on much."

"Do you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?" V-mon said.

"Did that sound like hooves to ya? Nah, if you ask me, that was what's been killing the unicorns-never heard anything like it before." Muchomon replied.

"All right. Let's split up." Hengai said as his group went one way.

So Kiba, Daisuke, V-mon, Koaku, and Dracomon set off into the heart of the forest.

"Wait until my father hears about this." Koaku said.

"If I didn't know better Ryu, I'd say you are scared." Daisuke said.

"_Scared_ Motomiya." Koaku said, revolted.

*Crack*

"Did you hear that?" Koaku said, looking behind him.

Daisuke and V-mon looked behind, and when they didn't see anything, just as they started to turn their heads, they saw a cloaked figure walking through the forest, and disappeared the next second. They wondered for a second if their minds were playing tricks on them.

They continued walking through the dense dark trees. Daisuke and V-mon kept looking over their shoulder. They had a nasty feeling they were being watched.

They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the paths became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Daisuke and V-mon thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been trashing around in pain close by. Daisuke and V-mon could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look." Daisuke murmured, holding out his arm to stop Koaku.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Daisuke and V-mon had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were struck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

Daisuke had taken one step towards it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered…Then out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Daisuke, V-mon, Koaku, Dracomon, and Kiba stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Koaku and Dracomon let out a terrible scream and bolted-so did Kiba. The hooded figure raised its head and looked straight at Daisuke. Unicorn blood was dripping down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly towards Daisuke, who couldn't move for fear. V-mon stood protectively in front of Daisuke in a fighting stance, but the figure didn't back down.

Then a pain like he'd never felt before pierced Daisuke's head; it was though his scar was on fire. Half blinded, he staggered backwards. He heard hooves behind him, galloping, and something jumped clean over Daisuke and V-mon, charging at the figure.

The pain in Daisuke's head was so bad he fell to his knees. It took a minute or two to pass. When he looked up, the figure was gone. A centaur was standing over him, not Hametsu or Kona, this one looked younger; he had black hair and beard and a dark palomino body.

"Are you alright?" Said the centaur, pulling Daisuke to his feet.

"Yes, thank you. What _**was**_ that?"

The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Daisuke, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Daisuke's forehead.

"You are the Motomiya boy." He said. "You better get back too Hengai-kun and Muchomon. The forest is not safe at this time, especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way. My name is Fioden." He said as he lowered himself onto his front legs so that Daisuke and V-mon could clamber onto his back.

There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Kona and Hametsu, along with a Sagittarimon, came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweating.

"Fioden!" Hametsu thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human and Digimon on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

"Do you realize who these are?" Fioden said. "This is the Motomiya boy and his partner. The quicker they leave the forest, the better."

"What have you been telling them? Remember Fioden, we are not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?" Hametsu said.

"The Motomiya boy and this V-mon are one of the saviors of our world. We Sagittarimon are willing to fight against the heavens for them." Sagittarimon said.

Kona pawed the ground nervously. "I'm sure Fioden thought he was acting for the best." He said in a gloomy voice.

Hametsu kicked his back legs in anger.

"For the best? ! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"

Fioden suddenly reared onto his hind legs in anger, so Daisuke and V-mon had to grab his shoulders to stay on.

"Do you not see that unicorn?" Fioden bellowed at Hametsu. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on their secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest Hametsu, yes, with humans alongside me if I must."

And Fioden whisker around; with Daisuke and V-mon clutching on as best as they could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Kona, Hametsu, and Sagittarimon behind them.

Daisuke and V-mon didn't have a clue what was going on.

"Why's Hametsu so angry? What was that thing you saved me from anyway?" Daisuke asked.

Fioden slowed to a walk, warned Daisuke and V-mon to keep their heads bowed in case of low hanging branches, but did not answer Daisuke's question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Daisuke and V-mon thought Fioden didn't want to talk to them anymore. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Fioden stopped.

"Motomiya Daisuke, V-mon, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"

"No." Daisuke and V-mon replied simultaneously, startled by the odd question. "We've only used the horn and tail hair in Potions."

"That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose and everything to gain would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenseless to save yourself, that from the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life, a cursed life." Fioden said.

Daisuke started at the back of Fioden's head, which was dappled brown in the moonlight.

"But who would be that desperate? If you're going to be cursed forever, then death's better, isn't it?" Daisuke said.

"It is," Fioden agreed "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else, something that will bring you back to full strength and power, something that will mean you can never die. Motomiya-san, V-mon, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Philosopher's Stone!" Daisuke said.

"Of course-the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who-" V-mon said.

"Can you think of nobody who has waited many months to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting his chance?" Fioden asked.

It was though suddenly an iron fist had clenched around Daisuke's and V-mon's hearts. Over the rustling of the trees, they seemed to hear once more what Hengai told them on the night they met: _Some say he died. Baloney if you ask me. I think he's still out there…somewhere, waiting for the right time, gathering his power._

"Do you mean" Daisuke croaked "that was _Zol_-"

"Daisuke-kun/V-mon! Daisuke-kun/V-mon, are you all right?"

Hikari, Tailmon, Ken, and Wormmon were running towards them down the path, Hengai and Muchomon puffing along behind them. Daisuke and V-mon slid off Fioden's back.

"We're fine." Daisuke and V-mon said as Hikari and Tailmon hugged them into a tight embrace, hardly knowing what they were saying. "The unicorn's dead Hengai-san, Muchomon, it's in that clearing back there."

"This is where I leave you." Fioden murmured as Hengai and Muchomon hurried off to examine the unicorn. "You are safe now."

"Good luck Motomiya Daisuke and V-mon. The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times." Fioden said.

He turned and catered back into the deaths of the forest, leaving Daisuke and V-mon shivering behind him.

(A while later)

Takeru and Patamon had fallen asleep in the dark Common Room, waiting for them to return. Takeru shouted something about basketball and Quidditch fouls when Daisuke roughly shook him and Patamon awake. In a matter of seconds, though, they were wide-eyed as Daisuke began to tell them, Hikari, and Tailmon what had happened in the forest.

Daisuke and V-mon couldn't sit down. They kept pacing up and down in front of the fire. They were still shaking.

"Sato wants the stone for Zoltel…and Zoltel's waiting in the forest…and all this time we thought Sato and Impmon just wanted to get rich…"

"Stop saying his name!" Takeru said in a terrified whisper, as though Zoltel could hear them. Daisuke and V-mon could only imagine what Zoltel was like if he made even Takeru scared. Yamato was the only one who had told his younger sibling what Zoltel was like.

"Fioden saved us, but he shouldn't have done so…Hametsu was furious…he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen…They must show that Zoltel is coming back…Hametsu thinks Fioden should have let Zoltel kill us…I suppose that's written in the stars as well." Daisuke continued.

"_Stop saying his name!_" Takeru hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is for Sato and Impmon to steal the Stone." Daisuke went on feverishly. "Then Zoltel will be able to come and finish us off…We'll, I suppose Hametsu'll be happy."

Hikari looked frightened, but she had a word of comfort.

"Daisuke-kun, everyone says Damaro's the only person You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Damaro around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Nakamura-sensei and Renamon say that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

The sky turned light before they stopped talking. They went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. But the night's surprises weren't over.

When Daisuke pulled back his sheets, he found his Invisibility Cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was a note pinned to it:

_Just in case._

* * *

Well, hope you liked the chapter. I should be finished with this story in the next 2 chapters. Review please.


	12. Through the Trapdoor

I do not own anything.

* * *

In the years that were to come, Daisuke would never quite remember how he had managed to pass through his exams when he half expected Zoltel to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt the Fluffy was still alive and well behind that locked door.

It was sweltering hot, especially in that large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new pens for the exams, which had been bewitched with Anti-Cheating spells.

They had practical exams ass well. Kurushin-sensei and Mamemon called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Nakamura-sensei and Renamon watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox-points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Sato made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

Daisuke did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest. Ken and Wormmon thought Daisuke had a bad case of exam nerves because Daisuke couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Daisuke kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that now it was worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Daisuke and V-mon had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Takeru, Hikari, Tailmon, and Patamon didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Daisuke and V-mon. The idea of Zoltel certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in their dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Sato and Impmon or anyone might be up to.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. 1 hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until the exam results came out. When the ghost of Sarete-sensei told them to put down their pens and roll down their parchment, Daisuke and V-mon couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be." Said Hikari, as they joined the crowd flocking out onto the sunny grounds.

"Speak for yourself." Takeru replied.

They walked down to the lake and flopped under a tree along with Miyako, Hawkmon, Wormmon, and Ken. The older Erabareshi Kodomo, Jun, and Miyako's brothers were playing with the Giant Squid by tickling its tentacles and feeding it some warm marshmallows.

"No more studying." Takeru sighed happily. "You could look more cheerful Daisuke, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Daisuke had lowered his goggles to rub his forehead.

"I wish I knew what this** means!**" He burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting-it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Let me see." Tailmon said.

Daisuke raised his bangs as Tailmon leaped onto his lap and checked the scar.

"I don't see anything strange." Tailmon said, analyzing Daisuke's scar.

"Go to Madam Nopshu." Miyako suggested as Hikari checked Daisuke's scar.

"I'm not ill…I think it's a warning…it means danger's coming…" Daisuke said.

Takeru couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

"Daisuke, Hikari-chan…" Takeru said as he stood up and walked away from the others a bit, motioning for them and there partners to follow him. "Daisuke, relax, Hikari-chan's right, the Stone's safe as long as Damaro and Hyokomon are around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Sato and Impmon found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not about to do it again in a hurry. And Ken-san will play Quidditch for Japan before Hengai-san and Muchomon let Damaro and Hyokomon down."

Daisuke nodded, but he couldn't let off a lurking feeling that there was something he had forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Hikari said "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."

Daisuke was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He watched an owl flutter towards the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Hengai and Muchomon were the only ones who ever sent him letters. Hengai and Muchomon would never betray Damaro and Hyokomon. Hengai and Mucho would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy…never…but-

Daisuke suddenly turned pale.

"Where're you going?" Takeru asked.

"I've just thought of something. We've got to see Hengai-san and Muchomon, now." Daisuke said.

"Why?" Hikari panted, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think that it's odd that what Hengai-san and Muchomon want more than anything else is a dragon and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard laws? Lucky they found Hengai-san and Muchomon, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?" Daisuke said, scrambling up the grassy slope.

"What are you talking about?" Takeru said, but Daisuke, sprinting across the grounds towards the forest, didn't answer.

Hengai was sitting in an armchair outside his house, and Muchomon was sitting on the steps of his house. They were shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hello." Hengai said, smiling. "Finished your exams; got time for a drink?"

"Yes please." Takeru said, but Daisuke cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hengai-san, Muchomon, we've got to ask you something. You know the night you won Nagato? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?" Daisuke asked.

"Dunno," Hengai said casually "he wouldn't take his cloak off."

He saw the six of them look stunned and raised his eyebrow.

"It's not that unusual, yeh got a lot of funny folks in Hog's Head-that's the pub down in the village. Might've been a dragon dealer, mightn't he? We never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

"What did you talk too him about, Hengai-san? Did you mention Butaibo at all?" Daisuke asked.

"Mighta come up." Said Hengai, trying to remember. "Yeah…he asked what I did and I told him I was Gamekeeper here…He asked a bit about the sorts of creatures I look after…so I told him…and I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon…and then…I can't remember too well, cause he kept buying us drinks…Let's see…Yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg and we could play cards for it if I wanted…but he had to be sure if we could handle it, he didn't want it to go to any old home…So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon should be easy…"

"And did he-did he seem interested in Fluffy?" V-mon asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Well, yeah, how many three-headed dogs do yah met, even around Butaibo? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece of cake if you know how to calm him down, just play him a bit of music and he'll go straight off to sleep-"

Hengai and Muchomon suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn't have told you that!" He blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey, where're you going?"

Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon sprinted back towards the school as fast as they could. They didn't speak to each other until they came to a half in the Entrance Hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to go to Damaro and Hyokomon. Hengai told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Sato or Zoltel under that cloak-it must've been easy, once he had got Hengai-san drunk. I just hope Damaro and Hyokomon believe us. Fioden might back us up if Hametsu doesn't stop him. Where's Damaro's office?" Daisuke said.

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. All they knew was that the office was in the highest tower, but they didn't know which room it was. They had never been told where Damaro or Hyokomon lived, nor did they know anyone that had been sent to see him.

"We'll just have to-" V-mon began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you six doing inside?"

It was Nakamura-sensei, who was carrying a large pile of books, and WhitePawnChessmon and BlackPawnChessmon.

"We want to see Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon." Hikari said, rather bravely, Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon thought.

"See Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon?" WhitePawnChessmon repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

Daisuke and V-mon swallowed-now what?

"It's sort of secret." Daisuke said, but he wished at once he hadn't, because Nakamura-sensei's nostrils flared.

"Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon left 10 minutes ago. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for Tokyo at once." She said coldly.

"They're _gone_? !" Daisuke said frantically. "_**Now**_**? !**"

"Damaro-sensei is a very great wizard, and Hyokomon a very great Digimon, Motomiya, they have many demands on their time-"

"But this is important." Daisuke said.

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Motomiya?" Renamon asked.

"Look." Daisuke said, throwing caution to the winds. "Senseis, it's about the Philosopher's Stone-"

Whatever Nakamura-sensei and the PawnChessmons were expecting, it wasn't that. The books Nakamura-sensei were carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up.

"How do you know-" They spluttered.

"Senseis, I think-I **know**-that Sa-that somebody's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon." Daisuke said.

They eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Hyokomon and Damaro will be back tomorrow." BlackPawnChessmon said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possible steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Senseis-" V-mon said.

"Motomiya, V-mon, we know what we're talking about. I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine." Nakamura-sensei said as she bent down and gathered up the fallen books.

But they didn't.

"It's tonight." Daisuke said once he was sure Nakamura-sensei and Renamon were out of earshot. "Sato and Impmon are going through the trapdoor tonight. They've found out everything they need, and they got Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon out of the way. They sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Damaro and Hyokomon turn up."

"But what can we-"

Hikari gasped. The others wheeled around.

Sato and Impmon were standing there.

"Good afternoon." Sato said smoothly.

They stared at him.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this." Impmon said with an odd, twisted smile.

"We were-" V-mon began, without any idea what he was going to say.

"You want to be more careful." Said Sato. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Goono really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

Daisuke flushed. They turned to go outside, but Sato called them back.

"Be warned Motomiya. Any more nighttime wandering and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

He and Impmon strode off in the direction of the staff room.

Out on the steps, Daisuke turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do. One of us has to keep an eye on Sato and Impmon. Wait outside the staff room and follow them if they leave it. Hikari-chan, Tailmon, you better do that." He whispered urgently.

"Why us?" They asked.

"It's obvious." Patamon said. "You can pretend to be waiting for Kurushin-sensei and Mamemon, you know." He put on a high voice. "Oh, Kurushin-sensei, I'm so worried, I think I got question 14 _b_ wrong…"

"Oh shut up." Tailmon said, but she and Hikari agreed to go and watch out for Sato and Impmon.

"And we better stay outside the third-floor corridor."

But that part of the plan didn't work. No sooner had they reached the door separating Fluffy from the rest of the school than Nakamura-sensei, BlackPawnChessmon, and WhitePawnChessmon turned up again and this time, they lost their temper.

"I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments! Enough of this nonsense! If I hear you've come near here again, I'll take another 50 points from Goono! Yes, Takaishi, Patamon, from my own house!" They stormed.

Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon went back to the Common Room. Daisuke had just said "At least Hikari-chan and Tailmon're on Sato's and Impmon's tails" when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Hikari and Tailmon came in.

"I'm sorry Daisuke-kun!" Hikari wailed. "Sato came out and asked me what I was doing, so I told him I was waiting for Kurushin, and Sato went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Sato or Impmon went."

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Daisuke said.

The others stared at him and V-mon. They were pale and their eyes were glittering.

"We're going out of here tonight and we're going to try to get to the Stone first." Daisuke said.

"You're crazy!" Takeru said.

"You can't! After what Nakamura-sensei, WhitePawnChessmon, BlackPawnChessmon, and Sato have said? You'll be expelled!" Hikari said.

"SO WHAT? !" Daisuke said. "Don't you understand? If Sato and Impmon get a hold of the Stone, Zoltel's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Butaibo to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, don't you see? Do you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Goono wins the House Cup? If I get caught before I get to the Stone, well, I'll go back to Odaiba and wait for Zoltel to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! We're going through the trapdoor tonight and nothing you four say is going to stop us! Zoltel killed my parents, remember?"

He and V-mon glared at them.

"You're right Daisuke-kun." Hikari said in a small voice.

"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak." Daisuke said. "It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all six of us." Takeru asked.

"All…all six of us?"

"Oh come on, you don't think we'd let you go alone?" Takeru said.

"Of course not. How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I better go and look through my books, there might be something useful…" Hikari said briskly.

"But if we get caught, you four will be expelled too." V-mon said.

"Not if Hikari can help it. Kurushin told her in secret that she got 112% on his exam. They're not throwing us out after that." Tailmon said grimly.

(A while later)

After the dinner, the six of them sat nervously apart in the Common Room. Nobody bothered them, none of the Goonos had anything to say to Daisuke anymore after all. This was the first night he hadn't been upset by it. Hikari was skimming through all her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments there were about to try to break. Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon didn't talk much. Both of them were thinking about what they were going to do.

Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the Cloak." Takeru muttered as Tahiro Yoshi finally left, stretching and yawning. Daisuke ran upstairs to their dark Dormitory. He pulled out the Cloak and then his eyes fell on the flute Hengai had given him for Christmas. He pocketed it to use on Fluffy, he didn't feel much like singing.

He ran back down to the Common Room. Daisuke was wearing a royal blue sweater with a white shirt underneath it, khaki pants, and brown boots. Takeru was wearing a gray shirt, covered by an opened up dress shirt with green and yellow stripes, grey jeans, and black tennis shoes; and as for Hikari, she was wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt, a brown skirt, and black shoes.

"We'd better put the Cloak on here, make sure it cover all six of us. If Fuki spots one of our feet wandering along on its own-"

"What are you doing?" Said a voice from the corner of the room. Ken appeared from behind an armchair, with Wormmon on his lap and clutching Mikio the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

"Nothing Ken, nothing." Said Daisuke, hurriedly putting the Cloak behind his back.

Ken stared at their guilty faces.

"You're going out again." He said.

"No, no, no. No we're not. Why don't you go back to bed Ken-san?" Hikari said.

Daisuke looked at the grandfather clock by the door. They couldn't afford to waste anymore time, Sato might even now be playing Fluffy to sleep.

"You can't go out." Wormmon said. "You'll be caught again. Goono will be in even more trouble."

"You don't understand, this is important." V-mon said.

But Ken and Wommon were clearly steeling themselves to do something desperate.

"I won't let you do it." Ken said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait.

"**Ken-san**! Get away from the hole and don't be an idiot!" Takeru exploded.

"Don't call me an idiot! And I don't think you should be breaking anymore rules!" Ken replied.

"Ken-san, you don't know what you're doing." Takeru tried to explain.

He took a step forward and Ken dropped Mikio, who leapt out of sight.

Daisuke and V-mon turned to Hikari and Tailmon.

"Do **something**." Daisuke and V-mon said desperately.

Hikari and Tailmon stepped forward.

"Ken-san/Wormmon, I'm really, really sorry about this." Hikari and Tailmon said as Hikari raised her wand. "Petrificus Totalus/Neko Eye!" They cried, Hikari pointing her wand at Ken and Tailmon glaring at Wormmon with her suddenly glowing red eyes.

Ken's arms snapped to his side. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board. Wormmon shot silk out of his mouth that surrounded himself, covering all his body, except for his eyes, in tight silk, making him fall to the side.

Hikari ran to turn them over. Ken's and Wormmon's jaws were jammed together so they couldn't speak. Only their eyes were moving, looking at them in horror.

"What have you done to them?" Daisuke and V-mon whispered.

"It's the full Body-Bind/Neko Eye." Hikari and Tailmon said. "Oh Ken-san/Wormmon, I'm so sorry."

"We had to Ken, Wormmon, no time to explain." V-mon said.

"You'll understand later Wormmon, Ken." Patamon said as they stepped over them and pulled on the Invisibility Cloak.

But leaving Ken and Wormmon lying motionless on the floor didn't feel like a very good omen. In their nervous state, every statue's shadow looked like Fuki, every different breath of wind sounded like Jojo swooping down on them.

At the foot of the first set of stairs, they spotted Ms. Dam skulking near the top.

"Oh let's kick her, just this once." Takeru whispered in Daisuke's ear, but Daisuke shook his head. As they climbed carefully around her, Ms. Dam turned her lamp-like eyes on them, but didn't do anything.

They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase up to the third-floor. Jojo was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

"Who's there?" He said suddenly as they climbed towards him. He narrowed his wide, black eyes. "I know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you a ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?"

He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting at them.

"Should call Fuki, should I, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

Daisuke had a sudden idea.

"Jojo," He said in a hoarse whisper "the Bloody Duke has his own reasons for being invisible."

Jojo almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself and hovered about a foot off the stairs.

"So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr. Duke, sir." He said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake, I didn't see you-of course I didn't, you're invisible; forgive old Jojowy his little joke sir."

"I have business here Jojo. Stay away from this place tonight." Daisuke croaked.

"I will sir, I most certainly will. Hope your business goes well Duke, I will not bother you." Said Jojo, rising up in the air again.

And he scooted off.

"Brilliant Daisuke." Takeru whispered.

A few seconds later they were there, outside the third-floor corridor. And the door was already open.

"Well, there you are. Impmon and Sato have already got past Fluffy." V-mon said quietly.

Seeing the door open somehow seemed to impress upon all six of them what was facing them. Underneath the Cloak, Daisuke and V-mon turned to the other four.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you. You can take the Cloak, we won't need it now." V-mon said.

"Don't be stupid." Said Patamon.

"We're coming." Tailmon said.

Daisuke pushed the door open.

As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their years. All three of the dogs noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.

"What's that at its feet?" Tailmon whispered.

"Looks like a harp." Takeru said. "Sato and Impmon must have left it here."

"It must wake up the moment you stop playing. Well, here goes." Daisuke said.

He put Hengai's flute to his lip and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Daisuke hardly drew breath. Slowly, the dogs growls ceased-it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing." Patamon warned Daisuke as the slipped out of the Cloak and crept towards the trapdoor. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they approached the giant heads.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open." Takeru said, peering over the dogs back. "Want to go first Hikari-chan?"

"No I don't!" Hikari answered.

"All right." Takeru gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's leg. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" Hikari asked anxiously.

"Nothing, just black, there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop.

Daisuke, who was still playing the flute, waved at Takeru to get his attention then pointed at himself.

"Do you want to go first? Are you sure?" Takeru asked. "I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Hikari-chan so she can keep him asleep."

Daisuke handed the flute over. In the few seconds silence, the dog growled and twitched, but the moment Hikari began to play, it went back into its deep sleep.

Daisuke climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor. There was no sign of the bottom.

He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked at V-mon and said "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the Owlery and send Yushiba to Damaro and Hyokomon, right?"

"Right."

"See you in a minute, I hope…"

And Daisuke let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and…

*FLUMP*

With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay! It's a soft landing, you can jump." He called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor.

V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon followed right away. They landed, sprawled next to Daisuke.

"What's this stuff?" Were Patamon's first words.

"Don't know, some sort of plant thing. Suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on Tailmon, Hikari!" V-mon said.

The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but Hikari and Tailmon had already jumped.

"We must be miles under the school." Hikari said after she landed.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really." Takeru said.

"**Lucky**? !" Hikari shrieked. "Look at you four!"

She leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she landed, the plant had started to twist snake-like tendrils around her ankles. As for Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

Hikari and Tailmon had managed to free themselves before the plant got a firm grip on them. They now watched in horror as the four boys fought to pull the plants off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster wound around them.

"Stop moving! I know what this is, it's Devil's Snare!" Hikari ordered.

"I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help!" Takeru snarled, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

Hikari and Tailmon looked around the room and saw that there was nowhere to go. It was a round room with some side walks around the Devil's Snare in the center, and Hikari realized what she had to do.

Hikari threw herself back into the Devil's Snare, followed by Tailmon, who trusted her partner. The girls were quickly wrapped around by the tendrils.

"Stop moving. If you don't it'll only kill you faster." Hikari said.

"Kill us faster? ! Oh, **now** I can relax!" Takeru said.

Hikari and Tailmon were then sucked in by the Devil's Snare and disappeared from view.

"Hikari-chan, Tailmon!" Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon screamed in despair.

"Now what do we do? !" Takeru asked.

"Just relax!" Tailmon's voice said.

"Tailmon, where are you? !" V-mon asked.

"Do what we said! Trust us." Hikari's voice said.

Daisuke, Patamon, and V-mon decided to take the advice and were sucked in out of view by the Devil's Snare.

"Daisuke, Patamon, V-mon!" Takeru screamed, being the only one left.

The three landed on the ground, and looked up to see the girls standing beside them.

"You okay?" Tailmon asked V-mon.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." V-mon replied.

Tailmon then looked at Patamon with eyes that asked the same question, and the flying pig Digimon nodded, saying he was well.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" Hikari asked as she looked up at Takeru.

"Apparently not." Daisuke answered.

"Guys, some help!" Takeru said.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" Hikari said.

"Well hurry up, I can't breathe!" Takeru said as one vine wrapped itself around his neck.

"What did Moyashi-sensei say? It likes the dark and damp-"

"So light fire!" Daisukes said.

"Yes, of course! Incendio!" Hikari said as she whipped out her wand, waved it, and sent a jet of bluebell flames at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the plants started burning and loosening their grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. However, some plants still held on to Takeru, who was already starting to pass out from asphyxiation, and wouldn't let go until they completely burned to ashes.

"I gotta do something." Hikari said.

"What?" Daisuke asked.

"I remember reading something in Herbology."

"Help…" Takeru choked in a hoarse voice.

""Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, it's deadly fun…but will sulk in the sun." That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight! Lumos Solem!" Hikari said as she pointed her wand at the plants holding on to Takeru and a bright light emitted from the tip, the rays of light making the plants let go of Takeru, who dropped to the floor.

"You okay?" Daisuke asked as he knelt down beside his best fried.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Takeru said as he stood up. "Phew! Lucky I didn't panic."

"Lucky Hikari-chan pays attention in Herbology." Daisuke said.

"This way." V-mon said, pointing down at a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Daisuke was reminded of Mahginko. With an unpleasant jolt of heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the wizards bank. If they met a dragon, a fully grown dragon-Nagato had already been bad enough…

"Can you hear something?" Takeru whispered.

Daisuke listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"What is that? Do you think it's a ghost?" Hikari asked.

"I don't know…sounds like wings to me." Daisuke replied.

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright bird, fluttering and trumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" Said Patamon.

"Probably." Said Daisuke. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once…well, there's no other choice…I'll run."

He took a deep breath, covered his head with his arms, and sprinted across the room. He expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.

The other five followed him. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hikari tried her Alohomora charm.

"Now what?" Takeru asked.

"These birds…they can't be here just for decoration." Said Hikari.

They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering…_glittering_?

"They're not birds!" Daisuke said suddenly. "They're **keys**! Winged keys. Look carefully…so that must mean…" He looked around the chamber while the others squinted up at the keys. "Yes, look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are **hundreds** of them!"

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one-probably silver, like the handle." Takeru said, examining the lock on the door.

"There! That one!" Daisuke called to the others. "That big one there! No, there, with bright blue wings, the feathers are all crumpled on one side. But…it's too simple." Daisuke said with suspicion.

"You can do it Daisuke, if Sato can, then so can you. You're the youngest Seeker in a century." Takeru said.

Daisuke nodded and grabbed a broomstick, making all the keys immediately surround him and start cutting him.

"That might complicate things a bit." Takeru said.

Him and Hikari each seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air to help Daisuke, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

"Over there!" Daisuke said, pointing at the key.

Takeru went speeding in the direction that Daisuke was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Daisuke called, not taking his eyes of the key with the damaged wing. "Takeru, you come at it from above; Hikari-chan, you stay below and stop it from coming down; and I'll try to catch it. Right, NOW!"

Takeru dived, Hikari rocketed upward, the key dodged them both, and Daisuke streaked after it; it sped towards the wall, Daisuke leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand.

They landed quickly, except for Daisuke, who still had the keys cutting his body.

"Catch the key!" Daisuke said as he threw the key to Hikari and flew back upwards.

"Hurry up!" Patamon said.

The key struggling in her hand, Hikari rammed it into the lock and turned-it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice. They all passed through it and left it open, waiting for Daisuke. Daisuke quickly swooped back down and through the door, and the others closed it before the keys passed through, making them hit the door.

Daisuke, Takeru, and Hikari were by now all scratched and bleeding a bit, with their clothes torn up in some places.

"Ready?" Daisuke asked the other five, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light flooded into the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon shivered slightly-the towering white chessmen had no faces.

"I don't like this." Tailmon said. "I don't like this at all."

"Now what do we do?" Daisuke whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Takeru said. "We've got to play our way across the room.

Behind the white pieces they could see another door.

"How?" Hikari asked nervously.

"I think…we're going to be chessmen." Takeru said.

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Takeru.

"Do we, er, have to join you to get across the room?" Takeru asked.

The black knight nodded. Takeru turned to the others.

"This needs thinking about…" He said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of six black pieces…"

Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, Patamon, and Tailmon stayed quiet, watching Takeru think. Finally he said "Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you are that good at chess-"

"We're not offended. Just tell us what to do." Daisuke said quickly.

"Well, Daisuke, you take the place of the bishop, Hikari-chan, you next to him instead of that castle. Patamon, Tailmon, V-mon, you take the places of those pawns."

"What about you?" Tailmon asked.

"I'm going to be a knight." Takeru said.

The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words, a knight, a bishop, a castle, and three pawns turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving six empty squares that Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari, V-mon, Patamon, and Tailmon took.

"White always plays first in chess." Takeru said, peering across the board. "Yes…look…"

A white pawn moved forward two squares.

"Takeru-kun, you don't suppose this will be like…wizard's chess, do you?" Hikari asked.

Takeru's features suddenly became heavy with worry as he looked at a pawn.

"You there, D-5." Takeru told the pawn, who moved two squares and was standing in diagonally against the white pawn. The white pawn suddenly drew out his swords and slashed the black pawn, breaking it into small pieces, leaving everyone terrified.

"Yes Hikari-chan. I think this is gonna be…_exactly_ like wizard's chess." Takeru said.

Takeru started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Daisuke's knees were trembling. What if they lost?

"Daisuke, move diagonally four squares to the right."

The first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen. Leaves you free to take that bishop Hikari-chan, go on." Takeru said, looking shaken.

Every time one of their men was lost, white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice Takeru only just noticed that Daisuke, V-mon, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking a many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there." He muttered suddenly. "Let me think, let me think…"

The queen turned her blank face toward him.

"Yes…" Takeru said softly. "It's the only way."

Daisuke wondered what he meant by that and looked around. Horror suddenly struck him together with realization.

"Wait a minute." Daisuke said.

"You understand now, right Daisuke?" Takeru spoke. "Once I make my move…the queen will take me. Then you're free to check-mate the king."

"No! Takeru, no!" Daisuke protested.

"What is it?" Hikari said, not understanding what they meant.

"He's planning on sacrificing himself."

"No, you can't! There must be another way." Hikari said.

"Do you want to stop Sato and Impmon from getting that Stone or not?" Takeru said. "That's chess! You've got to make sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me-that leaves you free to check-mate the king Daisuke! Daisuke, V-mon, it's you that have to go on. I know it. Not me, not Patamon, not Hikari-chan, not Tailmon. You."

"Takeru-"

"Look, you don't hurry up, they'll have the Stone!"

There was no alternative.

"Ready?" Takeru called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go. Now don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Takeru hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor-Hikari screamed and Patamon closed his eyes forcefully but stayed on their squares-the white queen dragged Takeru to one side. His head was bleeding heavily; he looked as if he'd been knocked out, maybe even…

Shaking, Daisuke moved three spaces to the left.

"Check-mate." Daisuke said.

The king's sword fell from his hands and he took of his crown and threw it to Daisuke's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. Daisuke and the others then hurried to Takeru's side, checking his bloody head which now stained his golden hair, his hat nearby him.

"What if he's-"

"Don't say it! Don't you dare say it!" Daisuke said to Hikari.

"Patamon, you stay here and watch over Takeru. Hikari, Tailmon, Daisuke, and I will go one ahead." V-mon said, and his best friend nodded.

With one last desperate look back at Takeru, Daisuke, V-mon, Hikari, and Tailmon charged through the door and up the next passageway.

"Are you sure he's okay?" Hikari asked.

"He'll be all right." Daisuke said, trying to convince himself. "What do reckon's next?"

"We've had Moyashi's, that was the Devil's Snare; Kurushin must've put charms on the keys; Nakamura transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Kurata's spell, and Sato's…" Hikari said.

They reached another door.

"All right?" Daisuke whispered.

"Go on."

Daisuke pushed it open.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front off them, a troll even larger then the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on his head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one. Come on, I can't breath." Daisuke whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs.

He pulled open the next door, next of them hardly daring to look at what came next. But there was nothing very frightening here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottle standing on it in a line.

"Sato's." Daisuke said. "What do we have to do?"

They stopped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hikari seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Daisuke looked over her shoulder to read it.

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind_

_Two of us will help you, whichever one you would find_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine_

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to remain here forevermore_

_To help you in your choice, we help you in these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side_

_Second, different are those who stand at either end_

_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size_

_Neither dwarf nor giant hold death in their insides_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Hikari let out a great sigh and Daisuke, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.

"**Brilliant**." Hikari said. "This isn't magic, it's logic; a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizard's haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?" V-mon asked.

"Of course not. Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple." Hikari said.

"But how do we know which to drink?" Daisuke asked.

"Give me a minute."

Hikari read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last she clapped her hands.

"Got it. The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire, towards the Stone." She said.

Daisuke looked at the tiny bottle.

"There's only enough there for two of us." He said. "That's hardly two swallows."

They looked at each other.

"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?" V-mon asked.

Hikari pointed at a round bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that. No, listen, get back and get Takeru and Patamon. Grab brooms from the flying key room. They'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy; go straight to the owlery and send Yushiba to Damaro and Hyokomon, we need them. We might be able to hold Sato and Impmon off for a while, but we're no match for him, really."

"But Daisuke-kun, what if You-Know-Who's with them?" Hikari asked.

"Well, I was lucky once, wasn't I?" Daisuke said, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hikari's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Daisuke and threw her arms around him.

"Hikari-chan?" Daisuke said, shocked and flushed.

"Daisuke-kun, you're a great wizard, you know. You really are." Hikari said.

"I'm not as good as you or Miyako." Daisuke said, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.

"Me and Miyako-chan! Books! And cleverness! There are more important things; courage and friendship. And Daisuke-kun, be **careful**!" Hikari said.

"Are you sure you guys want to go in there alone; you might not come back." Tailmon said with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry. Just get Patamon and Takeru and get out of here." V-mon said.

Tailmon quickly, but tightly hugged V-mon.

"You guys drink first. You are sure which is which, aren't you?" Daisuke asked.

"Positive." Said Hikari. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered, before passing it to Tailmon, who did the same.

"It's not poison?" Daisuke said anxiously.

"No, but it's like ice." Hikari replied.

"Quick before it wears off."

"Good luck; take care-" Hikari and Tailmon said.

"GO!" Daisuke and V-mon said.

Hikari and Tailmon turned and walked straight through the purple fire.

Daisuke took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He and V-mon turned to face the black flames.

"Here we come." They said as Daisuke and V-mon each had little gulp, draining the little bottle.

It was indeed as though ice was flooding their body. V-mon put the bottle down and he and Daisuke walked forward; they braced themselves, they saw the black flames licking their bodies but couldn't feel them. For a moment they could see nothing but dark fire, then they were on the other side, in the last chamber.

There were already two people there, but it wasn't Sato and Impmon. It wasn't even Zoltel.

* * *

Sorry I took so long to update, but I was really busy. Please review, and thank you to all my reviewers so far. My next chapter will be the last.


	13. The Man with Two Faces

I do not own anything.

Also, I made a little change in my story. Instead of Renamon, Nakamura will have White and BlackPawnChessmons as partners.

* * *

It was Kurata and Gottsumon.

"_**You!**_" Daisuke and V-mon gasped.

Kurata and Gottsumon smiled. Kurata's face wasn't twitching at all. Gottsumon was also different, his body was white and he appeared a bit taller.

"Me." Kurata said calmly. "We wondered whether we'd be meeting you here Motomiya, V-mon."

"But we thought…Sato…Impmon…" Daisuke said.

"Savaro and Impmon?" Kurata laughed, and it wasn't is usual quivering tremble either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, they do seem the type, don't they? Next to them, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering K-Kurata-sensei and Gottsumon?"

Daisuke and V-mon couldn't take it. This couldn't be true, it couldn't.

"But Sato tried to kill me!" Daisuke said.

"No, no, no my dear boy. **I** tried to kill you. The crowd knocked me over when your friend Inoue-san set fire on Snape during the Quidditch match. They broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Sato hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save you." Kurata said.

"Sato was trying to _save_ me?" Daisuke said.

"Of course." Said Kurata coolly. "Why do you think Sato wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really…he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Damaro and Hyokomon watching. All the other teachers thought he was trying to stop Goono from winning. He _did_ make himself unpopular…and what a waste of time, when after all that, we're going to kill you tonight."

Kurata snapped his fingers. A force suddenly jammed Daisuke's and V-mon's arms and legs together, as if invisible ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around them.

"You're too nosy to live Motomiya, V-mon. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all we knew you'd seen us coming to look at what was guarding the Stone." Kurata said.

"_You_ let the troll in?" Daisuke and V-mon said.

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls. You must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Sato and Impmon, who already suspected us, went straight to the third-floor head us off. And not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Sato's leg off properly. Now wait quietly Motomiya, V-mon, I need to examine this interesting mirror." Kurata said.

It was only then that Daisuke and V-mon realized what was standing behind Kurata and Gottsumon. It was the Mirror of Erised.

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone." Kurata muttered, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Damaro and Hyokomon to come up with something like this…but they're in Tokyo…we'll be far away by the time they get back."

All Daisuke and V-mon could think of doing was keep Kurata and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.

"I saw you, Gottsumon, Impmon, and Savaro in the hall-" V-mon blurted out.

"Yes." Kurata said idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "They were on to us by that time, trying to find out how far we'd gotten. They suspected us all along. Tried to frighten us, as though they could, when we had Lord Zoltel by our side…"

Kurata came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it.

"I see the Stone…I'm presenting it to my master…but where is it?"

Daisuke and V-mon struggled against the forces binding them, but they didn't give. They **had** to keep Kurata from giving his whole attention to the mirror.

"But Sato always seemed to hate me so much." Daisuke said.

"Oh he does" Kurata said casually "heavens yes. He was at Butaibo with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you _dead_."

"But we heard you a few days ago, sobbing. We thought Sato and Impmon were threatening you…"

For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Kurata's face.

"Sometimes I find it hard to follow my master's instructions. He is a great wizard and I am weak-" Kurata said.

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Daisuke gasped.

"He is with me wherever I go. We met him when he traveled around the world. A foolish young wizard then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Zoltel showed me how wrong I was. There is only power, and those to weak to seek it…Since then, we have served him faithfully, although we have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on us." Kurata shivered suddenly. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When we failed to steal the Stone from Mahginko, he was most displeased. He punished us…decided he would have to keep a closer watch on us…"

Kurata's voice trailed away. Daisuke and V-mon were remembering their trip to Cornerside Street. How could they have been so stupid? They'd _seen_ Kurata and Gottsumon that very day, shaken hands with them in the Boiling Cauldron.

"What about you Gottsumon? Is that your reason for joining Zoltel too? Power?" V-mon asked.

"Of course. Why should I need another reason? Power is the only thing that matters. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not Gottsumon anymore. I am now Insekimon, an Ultimate. And you can't evolve here V-mon, this chamber has an anti-evolution charm. Fortunately, I already knew about it and evolved in the previous chamber." Insekimon said.

Kurata cursed under his breath.

"I don't understand…is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?" He said.

Daisuke's and V-mon's minds were racing.

"_What I want more than anything else in the world at the moment is to find the Stone before Kurata does. So if I look in the mirror, I should see myself finding it, which means I will know where it's hidden! But how can I look without Kurata and Insekimon realizing what I'm up to?_" Daisuke and V-mon thought.

They tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Kurata or Insekimon noticing, but the force around their ankles were too tight; they tripped and fell over. Kurata and Insekimon ignored them. Kurata was still talking to himself.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me Master!"

And to Daisuke's and V-mon's horror, a voice answered, and the voice seemed to come from Kurata himself.

"Use the boy…Use the boy…"

Kurata rounded on Daisuke and V-mon.

"Yes Motomiya, come here!"

He stretched out his arm and Daisuke and V-mon suddenly lifted off the ground, rushed through the air, and stopped abruptly beside Kurata and Insekimon. The force binding Daisuke and V-mon disappeared.

"Look in the mirror and tell me what you see." Kurata said.

"_I must lie._" Daisuke thought desperately. "_I must look and lie about what I see, that's, that's all._"

Kurata moved close behind him. Daisuke breathed in the funny smell that seemed to be coming from Kurata's turban. He closed his eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again.

He saw his reflection, pale a scared-looking at first. But a moment later, his reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and out the Stone back in its pocket, and as it did so, Daisuke felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow, incredibly, he'd gotten the Stone.

Daisuke tapped his pocket carrying the Stone so that V-mon, and no one else, noticed the Stone was with him.

"Well?" Kurata said impatiently. "What do you see?"

Daisuke screwed up his courage.

"I see myself shaking hands with Damaro. I-I've won the House Cup for Goono." He invented.

Kurata cursed again.

"Get out of my way." He said.

As Daisuke and V-mon moved aside, Daisuke felt the Philosopher's Stone against his leg. Dare they make a break for it?

But they hadn't walked five paces before a high voice spoke, though Kurata wasn't moving his lips.

"He lies…He lies…"

"Motomiya, come back here! Tell me the truth! What did you just see?" Kurata shouted.

The high voice spoke again.

"Let me speak to him…face-to-face…"

"Master, you are not strong enough!"

"I am strong enough…for this…"

Daisuke and V-mon felt as if though Devil's Snare was rooting them to the spot. They couldn't move a muscle. Petrified, they watched as Kurata reached up and began to unwrap his turban. What was going on? The turban fell away. Kurata's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot.

Daisuke and V-mon would have screamed, but they couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Kurata's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Daisuke and V-mon had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Motomiya Daisuke…" It whispered.

Daisuke and V-mon tried to take a step backward but their legs wouldn't move.

"See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapor…I have form only when I share another's body…but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past few weeks…you saw faithful Kurata drinking it for me in the forest…and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own…Now…why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?" The face said.

So he knew. The feeling suddenly surged back into Daisuke's and V-mon's legs. They stumbled backwards.

"Don't be a fool." The face snarled. "Better save your own life and join me…or you'll meet the same end as your parents…They died begging me for mercy…"

"LIAR!" Daisuke and V-mon shouted suddenly.

Insekimon was now walking towards them while Kurata was walking backwards at him, so that Zoltel could still see him. The evil face was now smiling.

"How touching…" It hissed. "I always value bravery…Yes, boy, your parents were brave…I killed your father first, and he put up a courageous fight…but your mother needn't have died…she was trying to protect you…Tell me Daisuke, V-mon, would you like to see your mother and father again? Together…we can bring them back. All I ask…is for something in return. Now give me the Stone, unless you want your parents to have died in vain."

Daisuke pulled out the Stone and he and V-mon looked at it. They then looked in the mirror and saw their parents, looking at them, and saw it in their eyes…the reason they had died. They had died standing up to Zoltel; they had died doing the right thing. And by giving Zoltel the Stone, it would be the worst kind of insult and betrayal to them.

"NEVER!" Daisuke and V-mon screamed.

Daisuke and V-mon were about to spring towards the flame door, but Zoltel screamed "SEIZE THEM!" and the next second, Daisuke and V-mon felt Kurata's and Insekimon's hands close on their necks. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across Daisuke's scar and for some reason across V-mon's "V" symbol on his forehead; they felt as though it was about to split in two; they yelled, struggling with all their might, and to their surprise, Kurata and Insekimon let go of them. The pain on their heads had lessened. They looked around wildly to see where Kurata and Insekimon had gone, and saw them hunched in pain, looking at their fingers; they were blistering and turning to dust before their eyes.

"Seize them! SEIZE THEM!" shrieked Zoltel again, and Kurata and Insekimon lunged, knocking Daisuke and V-mon clean off their feet, landing on top of them, both hands around Daisuke's and V-mon's necks. Daisuke's scar and V-mons symbol were almost blinding them with pain, yet they could see Kurata and Insekimon howling in agony.

"Master, we cannot hold them! Our hands, our hands!" Kurata and Insekimon cried.

And Kurata and Insekimon, though pinning Daisuke and V-mon to the ground with their knees, let go of their necks and stared, bewildered, at their own palms. Daisuke and V-mon could see they looked burnt, raw, red, and shiny, before turning to small particles of brownish dust.

"Then kill them fools, and be done!" Zoltel screeched.

Kurata raised his hand to perform a deadly curse while Insekimon raised his to deliver an attack, but Daisuke and V-mon, by instinct, reached up and grabbed Kurata's and Insekimon's faces.

"AAAAAAAARRGGGHHH!"

Kurata and Insekimon rolled off them, their faces blistering and turning to dust too, and then Daisuke and V-mon knew. Kurata and Insekimon couldn't touch them, not without suffering terrible pain. Their only chance was to keep hold of Kurata and Insekimon, keep them in enough pain to stop them from doing the curse or attacking. V-mon and Daisuke then noticed something strange. Glowing on Insekimon's head was a strange symbol composed of four triangles. One triangle was in the center, pointing downwards, surrounded by a ring, while the other three were pointing inwards, connecting to the points of the central triangle. V-mon and Daisuke wondered for a moment what it was but quickly remembered that they were in the middle of a fight.

Daisuke and V-mon jumped to their feet, caught Kurata and Insekimon by the arms, and hung on as tight as they could. Kurata and Insekimon screamed and tried to throw Daisuke and V-mon off. The pain in Daisuke's and V-mon's head was building, they couldn't see, they could only hear Kurata's and Insekimon's terrible shrieks and Zoltel's yells of "KILL THEM! KILL THEM!" and other voices, maybe in Daisuke's and V-mon's own heads, crying "Daisuke-kun, V-mon! Daisuke-kun, V-mon!".

They felt Kurata's and Insekimon's arms wrenched from their grasps, saw Kurata and Insekimon, who were now completely blistering and turned to dust, reach out their hands for them, knew all was lost, turned to the mirror, saw their parents smiling proudly at them, and fell into blackness, down…down…down…

(A few days later)

Something gold was glinting just above Daisuke. The Snitch! He tried to catch it, but his arms were too heavy.

He blinked. It wasn't the Snitch at all. It was a pair of glasses. How strange.

He blinked again. The smiling face of Damaro Abura swam into view above him.

"Good afternoon Daisuke-kun." Damaro said.

Daisuke stared at him. Then he remembered.

"Sir! The Stone! It was Kurata! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick-"

"Calm yourself dear boy, you are a little behind times." Said Damaro. "Kurata does not have the Stone!"

"Then who does? Sir, I-"

"Daisuke-kun, please relax, or Madam Nopshu will have me thrown out."

Daisuke swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the Hospital Wing. He looked beside him and saw Hyokomon above V-mon, who starting to wake up. Daisuke looked at down and saw himself lying in a bed with white linen sheets, next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop.

"Tokens from your friend and admirers." Said Damaro, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Kurata-sensei and Insekimon is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Taichi-kun and Yamato-kun were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Nopshu, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it."

"How long have we been here?" Daisuke asked.

"3 days. Your friends Takeru-san, Hikari-san, Patamon, and Tailmon will be most relieved you have come around, they were extremely worried."

"But Sir, the Stone-" V-mon said.

"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Kurata-sensei and Insekimon did not manage to take it from you. We arrived it time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, we must say." Hyokomon said.

"You got there? You got Hikari-chan's owl?"

"We must have crossed midair. No sooner had we reached Tokyo that it became clear to me that the place we should be was the one we just left. We arrived just in time to pull Kurata and Insekimon off you-"

"It was _you_?" Daisuke and V-mon said.

"We feared we might be too late." Hyokomon said.

"You nearly were, we couldn't have kept them off the Stone much longer-" Daisuke said.

"Not the Stone, boys, you, the effort involved nearly killed you. For a terrible moment there, we were afraid it had. As for the Stone, it was destroyed." Damaro said.

"Destroyed?" Daisuke said blankly. "But your friend, Fuhii Naca-"

"Oh, you know about Naca?" Damaro said, sounding delighted. "You _did_ do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Naca-kun and us had little chat, and agreed it's all for the best."

"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?" V-mon asked.

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Hyokomon.

Damaro and Hyokomon smiled at the look of amazement on Daisuke's and V-mon's faces.

"To ones as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Naca-kun and Pearl, it really is like going to bed after a very, _very_ long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things human beings choose above all. The trouble is, human do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them."

Daisuke and V-mon lay there, lost for words. Damaro and Hyokomon hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling.

"Sir? I've been thinking…Sir, even if the Stone's gone, Zol-, I mean, You-Know-Who-" Daisuke said.

"Call him Zoltel, Daisuke-kun, V-mon. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Damaro said.

"Yes sir. Well, Zoltel's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?" Daisuke asked.

"No, Daisuke-kun, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share…not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Kurata and Insekimon to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as to his enemies. Nevertheless Daisuke-kun, V-mon, while you may have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time. And if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power." Damaro said.

Daisuke and V-mon nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made their heads hurt. Then Daisuke said "Sirs, there are some other things we'd like to know, if you can tell us…things we want to know the truth about…"

"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, we shall answer your question unless we have a very good reason not to, in which case we beg you'll to forgive us. We shall not, of course, lie." Hyokomon said.

"Well…Zoltel said he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?" Daisuke asked.

Damaro and Hyokomon sighed deeply this time.

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day…put it from your minds for now Daisuke-kun, V-mon. When you are older…I know you hate to hear this…when you are ready, you will know."

Daisuke and V-mon knew it would be no good to argue.

"But why couldn't Kurata or Insekimon touch us?" V-mon asked.

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing your Zoltel cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Kurata and Insekimon, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing their souls with someone like Zoltel, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good." Hyokomon said.

Damaro and Hyokomon now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, which gave Daisuke and V-mon time to try their eyes on the sheet. When he found his voice again, Daisuke asked "And the Invisibility Cloak-do you know who sent it to me?"

"Ah! Your father left it in my possession, and I though you might like it." Damaro's eyes twinkled. "Useful things…your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food while he was here."

"And there's something else…"

"Fire away."

"Kurata said Sato and Im-"

"Sato-sensei, Daisuke-kun."

"Yes, him. Kurata said Sato hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?" Daisuke asked.

"Well, they did detest each other. Not unlike you two and Koaku-san and Dracomon. And then your father did something Sato could never forgive."

"He saved his life."

"_**What? !**_" Daisuke and V-mon said.

"Yes…" Damaro said dreamingly. "Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Sato-sensei couldn't bear being in your father's debt…I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt it would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace…"

Daisuke and V-mon tried to understand this but it made their heads pound, so they stopped.

"Another question…" Daisuke said.

"What is it?" Damaro asked.

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to **find** the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it. Otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking the Elixir of Life." Damaro said.

"And sirs, there just two more thing…" V-mon said.

"Just two others?"

"When we were fighting Insekimon and Kurata, my forehead also began to hurt. And this strange symbol appeared on Insekimon's forehead. It was a triangle pointing down with a ring around it and three other triangles pointing into it." V-mon said.

Hyokomon and Damaro looked at it each other for a brief moment.

"The Digital Hazard." Hyokomon said, finally looking down.

"You know what it is?" V-mon asked.

"A mark that identifies those capable of causing great pain and destruction. I do not believe that Gottsumon had the power to evolve into an Ultimate. I believe that just like Kurata was receiving aid from Zoltel, Insekimon was being given power by someone else. That's why you reacted the same way Daisuke reacted to Zoltel." Hyokomon said.

"Are you saying that Zoltel has a Digimon?" V-mon asked.

Hyokomon solemnly nodded.

"Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavored one, and since then I am afraid I have rather lost my liking for them; but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?" Damaro said.

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said "Alas! Ear wax! Would you like one Hyokomon?", his partner shaking his head.

(A while later)

Madam Nopshu, the nurse, was a nice woman, but very strict.

"Just 5 minutes." Daisuke and V-mon pleaded.

"Absolutely not."

"You let Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon in…"

"Well, of course, those were the Headmasters, quite different. You need _rest_." Madam Nopshu said.

"We are resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh go on Madam Nopshu…" V-mon asked.

"Oh, very well." She said. "But 5 minutes **only**."

And she let Takeru, Hikari, Patamon and Tailmon in.

"**Daisuke/Daisuke-kun/V-mon!**"

Hikari and Tailmon looked ready to fling their arms around them again, but Daisuke and V-mon were glad they held themselves in as their heads were still very sore.

"Oh V-mon, Daisuke, we were sure you were going to…Damaro and Hyokomon were so worried…" Tailmon said.

"The whole school's talking about it." Patamon said. "What _really_ happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions where the truth is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. V-mon and Daisuke told them everything: Kurata; Insekimon, the mirror; the Stone; and Zoltel. Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon were a very good audience; gasping in all the right, and when Daisuke told them what was under Kurata's turban, Hikari and Tailmon screamed out loud.

"So the Stone's gone? Fuhii's just going to **die**?" Patamon asked.

"That's what I said, but Hyokomon and Damaro think that…what was it…"to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."" V-mon said.

"I always said they were off their rockers." Patamon said, looking quite impressed at how crazy his heroes were.

"So what happened to you two?" Daisuke asked.

"Well, we got back all right." Hikari said. "We brought Takeru round, that took a while, and we were dashing up to the Owlery to contact Damaro and Hyokomon when we met them in the Entrance Hall. They already knew. They just said "Daisuke-kun and V-mon have gone after them, haven't they?" and hurtled off to the third floor."

"Do you think they meant you to do it? Sending you your father's cloak and everything?" Takeru said.

"Well, if they did, I mean to say, that's terrible! You could have been killed!" Hikari and Tailmon exploded.

"No, it isn't." Daisuke said thoughtfully. "They're funny men, Damaro and Hyokomon. I think they sort of wanted to give us a chance. I think they know more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, they just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident they let us know how the mirror works. It almost like they taught we had the right to face Zoltel if we could…"

"Yeah, Damaro and Hyokomon are off their rockers, all right?" Takeru said proudly. "Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. Points are all in and Suruberu won, of course. You missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrolled by Hikomeina without you; but the food will be good."

At that moment, Madam Nopshu bustled over.

"You've had nearly 15 minutes, now OUT!" She said firmly.

(The next day)

After a goodnight's sleep, Daisuke and V-mon felt nearly back to normal.

Jun had passed by earlier, and had smacked Daisuke and V-mon strongly on the head for doing something so stupid, before hugging them.

"We want to go to the feast." Daisuke told Madam Nopshu as she straightened their many candy boxes. "We can, can't we?"

"Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon says you are to be allowed to go." She said sniffily, as though in her opinion Damaro-sensei and Hyokomon didn't realize how risky feasts could be. "And you have another visitor."

"Oh, good." Said V-mon. "Who is it?"

Hengai and Muchomon sidled through the door as he spoke. As usual as when he was indoors, Hengai looked too big to be allowed. They sat down next to Daisuke and V-mon, took one look at them, and Hengai burst into tears.

"It's *sob* all *sob* my *sob* ruddy *sob* fault!" He sobbed, his face in his hands. "I told the evil gits how to get past Fluffy! I told them! It was the only they didn't know and I told them! Yeh could've been killed! All for a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out and made to live as a Muggle!"

"Hengai-san/Hengai!" Daisuke and V-mon said, shocked to see Hengai shaking with grief and remorse, great tears leaking down into his beard.

"Hengai-san, he'd have found out somehow, this is Zoltel we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him." Daisuke said.

"Yeh could've died!" Hengai sobbed. "And don't say his name!"

"ZOLTEL!" Daisuke and V-mon bellowed, and Hengai and Muchomon were so shocked, Hengai stopped crying.

"We've met him and we're calling him by his name." Daisuke said.

"Please cheer up, Hengai, we saved the Stone, it's gone, and he can't use it. Have a Chocolate Frog, we've loads…" V-mon said.

Hengai wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said "That reminds me. We've got yeh a present!"

"It's not a stone sandwich, is it?" Daisuke and V-mon asked anxiously, and at last Hengai gave a weak chuckle.

"Nah. Damaro and Hyokomon gave us the day off yesterday to fix this." Muchomon said.

"Course, he should've sacked me instead. Anyway, got yeh this…" Hengai said.

It was a handsome, leather-covered book. Daisuke opened it curiously as V-mon hopped onto his bed to see it. It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at them from every page were their mother and father. One picture had Daimaru, Daisuke's father, hugging a 1 year old Daisuke close to his chest while Daisuke's mother stood beside them, carrying a 4 year old Jun on her back while holding Daisuke's hand gently. Another picture had Daisuke with Chibimon on top of his still his spiky afro hair, Jun hugging them from behind, and their parents surrounding the three of them in a hug.

"Sent owls off ter all yer parents old school friends, asking for photos…knew ya didn't have any…do ya like it?" Muchomon asked.

Daisuke and V-mon couldn't speak, but Hengai and Muchomon understood.

(A while later)

Daisuke and V-mon made their way down the end-of-year feast alone. They had been held up by Madam Nopshu fussing about, insisting on giving them one last checkup, so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out in Suruberu colors of green and silver to celebrate Suruberu's winning the House Cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Suruberu serpents covered the wall behind the High Table.

When Daisuke and V-mon walked in there was a sudden hush, and everybody started talking loudly at once. They slipped into seats between Takeru, Hikari, Patamon, and Tailmon at the Goono table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at them.

Fortunately, Damaro and Hyokomon arrived moments later. The babble died away.

"Another year gone! And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth in our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…" Damaro said cheerfully. "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding, and the points stand thus: in 4th place, Goono, with 312 points; in 3rd place, Chuhoru, with 352 points; Hikomeina has 426 points and Suruberu, 472."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Suruberu table. Daisuke and V-mon could see Koaku Ryu banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

"Yes, yes, well done Suruberu, well done." Damaro said. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Suruberus's smiles faded a little.

"Ahem. I have a few last-minutes points to dish out. Let me see. Yes…" Damaro said. "First, to Takaishi Takeru-san…"

Takeru went purple in the face, he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.

"…for the best played game of chess Butaibo has seen in many years, I award Goono house 50 points."

Goono cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Yamato could be heard telling the others "My brother, you know! My younger brother! Got past Nakamura's giant chess set!"

At last there was silence again.

"Second, to Yagami Hikari-san…for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Goono house 50 points."

Hikari buried her face in her arms; Daisuke strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Goonos up and down the table were beside themselves; they were 100 points up.

"Third, to Motomiya Daisuke-san and V-mon…" Damaro said. The room went deadly quiet. "…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Goono house 60 points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Goono know had 472, exactly the same as Suruberu. They had tied for the House Cup, if only Damaro had given Daisuke and V-mon one more point.

Damaro raised his hand. The room fell gradually quiet.

"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award 10 points to Ichijouji Ken-san and Wormmon." Damaro said smiling.

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Goono table. Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon stood up to yell while Ken and Wormmon, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging them. Daisuke and V-mon, still cheering, nudged Takeru and Patamon in the ribs and pointed at Koaku and Dracomon, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if they'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on them.

"Which means" Damaro said over the storm of applauses, for even Hikomeina and Chuhoru were celebrating the downfall of Suruberu "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became red and the silver became gold; the huge Suruberu serpent vanished and a towering Goono lion took its place. Sato and Impmon were shaking Nakamura's and BlackPawnChessmon's and WhitePawnChessmon's hands with a horrible, forced smile. They caught Daisuke's and V-mon's eyes and Daisuke and V-mon knew Sato's and Impmon's feelings towards them hadn't changed one jot. This didn't worry Daisuke and V-mon. It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Butaibo.

It was the best evening of Daisuke's and V-mon's life, better than winning Quidditch, or Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls…they would never, ever forget tonight.

(The next day)

Daisuke had almost forgotten the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their surprise, both he and Ron had passed with good marks. Hikari and Miyako, of course, had the best grades of the first year, Miyako only getting slightly better grades than Hikari. Ken scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goiru, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed too. It was a shame, but as Takeru said, you couldn't have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, and Ken's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets, notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these." Chizuro said sadly); Hengai and Muchomon were there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Butaibo Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on their regular clothes which consisted of jackets and coats; pulling into platform 9 and ¾ at Shibuya Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a single elevator at once and alarming the Muggles.

"You two and Jun must come and stay this summer." Said Takeru. "I'll give you a call."

"Thanks." Daisuke replied. "I'll need something to look forward to."

People and Digimon jostled them as they moved forward onto the elevator back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

"Bye Daisuke-kun, V-mon!"

"See you Motomiya, V!" Said Matsuro Rei, a dark skinned boy, even taller then Takeru and Ken, with crispy black hair, who was also in his first year along with the others, and was best friends with Kitsu Samuso.

"Still famous." Ken said, grinning at him.

"Not where I'm going, I promise you." Daisuke replied.

Miyako's mother, Ayaka, smiled down at them.

"Busy year?" She said.

"Very." Daisuke replied. "Thank you for the sweater Inoue-san."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear." Ayaka said.

"Well, now that everyone's here, I guess we can say." Natsuko, Takeru's and Yamato's mother said.

"What is it?" Yamato said.

"Well…" Natsuko said with a smile. "Your father and I have decided to give our marriage another try."

Everyone's face immediately turned to one happiness and everyone congratulated the couple.

"Well, looks like things got even better for you." Ken told Takeru.

"Come on Daisuke, V-mon. See you guys later." Jun said as she started leaving.

Daisuke and V-mon hung back for a last word with Takeru, Hikari, Patamon, and Tailmon.

"See you over the summer then. Or at your parents wedding." Daisuke said.

"Hope you have a good holiday." Tailmon replied.

"It's kinda strange, isn't it?" Hikari said. "Going home…"

"We're not going home. Not really." Daisuke said with a smile before he and V-mon followed after Jun.

* * *

I finally finished. First, thank you to Mars the Fox and all the others who reviewed. Second, thank you to all those who favorited the story. Third, sorry it took so long to finish it. And finally, Merry Christmas to you all.


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